Fairy Tail: The Great Escape
by Electro DGX
Summary: In an unexpected twist, Gajeel finds himself stuck in a parallel universe, forced to deal with the identity of being a fictional character. Saved by a depressed high school student named Kyousuke, he finds out that the government has him under surveillance, perceiving Gajeel as a threat to his abusive circumstances. Who is this kid and what the hell is this place? (contains OCs).
1. Chapter 1: Reality Check

_**Chapter 1: Reality Check**_

A dragon's power is one that's both magnificent and awe-striking. As it goes to move, it flies up and off the ground with such ground-breaking force; it becomes a force of nature in its own right. It wields so much power, something that many humans can't grasp, and becomes both feared and revered. Something with so much potential either chooses to create or destroy and anything can happen when one takes this direction. After a long war between their relations with humans, dragons started to teach humans how to wield such magic; it came to be known as Dragon Slaying magic. The dragon's that choose peace did this so that they could stop the destruction of the ones who wished to end humanity, but that was a long time ago.

As time went on and life continued, a dimensional split took place. A vast majority of the humans inhabiting this planet suddenly vanished and fell into a new dimension. In this dimension, everyone became stripped of the ethernano in their bodies, and they managed to build a society and lifestyle that revolved around the use of everything but magic. The history of being in the same dimension as before was permanently erased and was instantly forgotten, never to be remembered by anyone. They could only connect to it through means of fictional stories, but that's all they believed it to be.

Following the lifestyle of an individual who feels a stronger connection to such fiction than most, we have Kyousuke Watanabe. For him, it was a secret that he held inside; he couldn't control how attached he got. He held onto the belief that maybe there's something more, but considering his past and childhood, perhaps it was all he had. He was 18 years old, lived in his parents' home and went to high school. That's what most people would see; what they didn't understand is how much he had to do on his own. He would cook and buy himself his meals on a daily basis, he transported himself to and from school by foot, and he worked a job outside of school that earned him the money he could use for the things he wanted. Even if it sounded like he was putting his life in gear, he wasn't happy. There was so much that made him feel alone, outcasted, wrong for being who he was. How could anyone understand though? Nobody knew what it was like to be him; everybody else was too wrapped up in their own story to look outside.

On a typical day walking back from school, as usual, he took a long route that led him back home. He didn't have to go to work tonight, so he was just planning on heading home like he was supposed to. Kyousuke didn't have individual freedoms like other people, such as being able to go out and see the world and what not. When someone asked him to do something, he had to do it; there were no excuses. It wasn't a discipline issue either. Kyousuke would look on at people socializing, talking about random things he thought were superficial, he'd see people driving and going about and doing things, having fun with friends and what not. It was anything but inspirational; it was frustrating to watch. He couldn't help but think to himself about how bad it was.

" _They're all stupid as hell; I don't even know where to begin_." Kyousuke thought to himself in frustration. He couldn't help but feel as if they had no idea; it was like they lived in a bubble that shut them out from reality. Kyousuke always looked around and saw that they took every single positive thing they got for granted; he couldn't feel any genuine appreciation for what they had in front of them. He saw so many things that he wished he had but didn't, and that upset him. If anything, it made him feel more disconnected with society and more within himself.

As he mulled over these tense feelings he regularly dealt with, he headed home as usual. He walked on a dirt road that led down the neighborhood he lived in; the sun reflected his darker blonde hair and the electric blue eyes he had. It complemented the navy-blue jacket he was wearing with his cargo jeans, an outfit he wore often. He wasn't the type to get fancy with clothing unless it was something important, which was rare. Kyousuke mulled over random thoughts running through his head as he made his way home.

" _Just another day with the same crap, what a surprise_." Kyousuke thought to himself in disappointment. "If there's anything my life's not gonna do, it's not going to change." He stopped for a moment and looked up in the sky, seeing the blue sky and the clouds passing by, along with the bright sun shining and illuminating the earth as it took its half-day trip around this region of the planet. When he looked into the sky, he could feel something calling to him; Kyousuke felt like there was something else out there. It was this everlasting feeling that there was something or someone that could pull him out of this mess, something that would happen that could change everything. He just imagined the very sight of his life-changing before him, and the fact that just maybe there was something out there that everyone was oblivious to, that they weren't willing to believe. As alleviating as it felt, only disappointment followed.

"If only," Kyousuke muttered to himself, "I'm just getting my hopes up again." He stood there and thought about all the things that could happen, the various scenarios that his imagination could create. It made him feel connected to something, and that's what he wanted, and it was what he needed. It was better to do it that way than try finding it where there is none. Just as he was about to continue with his trip back to the household, he heard a strange sound. It was difficult to describe, almost like a laser in some way.

"What?" Kyousuke wondered, turning around and coming face to face with something he never expected to see. His eyes widened as he became full of shock when he saw what was in front of him: a large white portal that appeared out of nowhere. " _What the hell?_ " He thought to himself in wonder. He shook his head to try to get himself to think straight and looked again; it didn't disappear. "What in the world...this is really happening...what the hell is going on?" He questioned in shock. His head ran with thoughts like mad, and he was so shocked by it that he quickly became skeptical. It just seemed too unrealistic to be true. As soon as he started walking, something came falling out of the portal. Within a few seconds of falling out of it, the thing hit the ground as the portal it came out of disappeared. Kyousuke ran up to see what it was, making it out to be a person. Despite being so startled that he couldn't even think clearly, he knew what he was dealing with here.

"What the hell..." Kyousuke said in shock, his eyes widened in utter disbelief. He held these kinds of feelings in before, but he was so shocked that it happened, he didn't know how to take it. " _It can't be true; it's really happening. What the hell..._ " He thought to himself over and over again. It was the body of a male with long, black, spiky hair. He was wearing a black attire with beige pants and black boots and had iron studs on his forearms. It was Gajeel Redfox, just lying there on earth unconscious before Kyousuke of all people.

"Well...damn, this was the last thing I thought would happen," Kyousuke said in amazement, feeling some sense of hope. With as surprising and unexpected as this was, he couldn't help but only think about what was in front of him. Getting himself into further trouble because of this now didn't matter to him. "Now I need to find out how the hell I'm going to get him out of here," Kyousuke muttered to himself, getting down on the ground. He tried to pick him up, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him to wake him up.

"Yo Gajeel, wake up! You're out in the middle of nowhere." Kyousuke said in an attempt to wake him up, further shaking him. It was to no effect. Kyousuke, realizing that it would be a while before anything happened, decided to go with plan b. "Looks like you're coming with me." He told him as if he were awake, moving in to grab him. He went to carry him and drag him back to the house, putting his arms around his shoulders and attempting to drag him back to the house. "How the hell am I going to do this?" Kyousuke thought to himself, attempting to drag him and tripping in the process, falling to the ground with Gajeel falling right on him. Frustrated, he instantly got up and tried again, trying with all his might to carry him back to the house, even if it was physically straining. "He's heavier than I thought; it must be all of that iron he eats." Kyousuke joked to himself, dragging Gajeel back to the house with him. It took far longer to get home, but it wasn't with regret. His first trip was to head to the barn outside of the house. Kyousuke couldn't have anyone finding out about Gajeel being here, so the barn was the best place for him to be right now.

"Sorry Gajeel, I don't want to put you in a barn where it smells like garbage, but there's nothing else I can do," Kyousuke told him as if he was listening. In the barn was a large garage space, the garage space containing tools for various uses. There were trash bins, lifts, compressors, etc. There was also an area where there were chairs to sit, and Kyousuke managed to get Gajeel sitting in one of them, even if he happened to be passed out. As he "got him comfortable" Kyousuke planned to leave him there for a while; it's better than leaving him out on the road like a corpse. "I'll be back, so just stay here. If you do wake up then, whatever." Kyousuke said, leaving the shop as he closed the door and went to the house. He went around and went through the garage door to make things seem less suspicious, especially with what was going on. Going inside, he went upstairs and put his stuff away. After at least getting all his stuff put away, he was called down by someone.

"Kyousuke, get down here right now." Someone demanded, to which Kyousuke responded and followed down. He went down the stairs and came across a larger man that looked more mature, presumably his father. He looked angry, stressed, and not clean-cut. He also seemed to have a smoking problem; he had a cigarette in his hand and an ashtray with about 15 in already, one that he empties on a daily basis. He looked at Kyousuke with a look like he was on top of him or something, one that conveyed that "I'm better than you" attitude. Smoking his cigarette at least once, he went to ask Kyousuke a question. "So when the hell did you decide you can come home whenever you want? Making your own rules around here?"

"Sorry," Kyousuke said with a disappointed, yet slightly irritated tone, "we have an assignment in science class over physics and the solar system; people were asking me about the earth and gravity." His dad rolled his eyes like it was utter crap, even though it wasn't. They bore no similarities physically, except maybe for their dissatisfied attitude. He put out the cigarette he was smoking and tried to taunt him with it.

"I don't care what some stupid kids think or are doing; you get home when the hell I tell you to. You're lucky I'm not going to punish you for it." His dad went off. Kyousuke just sat there and took it; he had no real power in this situation. The only thing he could do is defend himself.

"I'm 18 years old; I think can handle myself out there."

"Did I say you could talk back to me?! Get the hell out of here." He yelled at Kyousuke, which he did immediately. His dad went to smoke another cigarette, as usual, muttering to himself about the failure Kyousuke was as the latter quietly made his way out of the house. He immediately went back to see how Gajeel was; it had to be better than dealing with this other kind of crap. In that instant, he went into the shop and closed the shop door, turning on the light inside and shutting the door behind him. Already upset with what had just happened, his expression immediately changed when who he brought in confronted him himself.

"Huh?" Gajeel said, turning to Kyousuke and seeing him there. In that instant, he immediately went up to him and grabbed his shirt, looking at him angrily like he had done something to him. Kyousuke looked at him in shock and slight fear as Gajeel breathed down his neck. "Where the hell am I, you better start talking or else!"

"Whoa..okay, you need to calm down. If weren't for me, you'd be out on the road looking like a corpse." Kyousuke said, prompting Gajeel to let go of him but still shoot him a stern look. It was like he was analyzing him, and with Kyousuke taking in all of this so quickly, he didn't know how to take it.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke went on to explain.

"I don't know what you know, but I was walking home when all of the sudden, a white portal opened up out of nowhere behind me and out you came. I didn't want to leave you on the ground just lying there, so I brought you here." Kyousuke explained, clearing things up for Gajeel. He didn't understand exactly how it happened, but it was enough to clear things up.

"A portal huh? I can't remember a single thing before now." Gajeel said, stretching as he tried to remember something. Anything that led up to how he fell into the portal escaped him. Kyousuke didn't know anything about it, nor expected it in the first place, so he tried clearing some things up.

"Well Gajeel, you're on a different planet. Your guild isn't even here so don't go trying to search for it." Kyousuke questioned. Gajeel shot Kyousuke a look of surprise, concerning his name. However, it suddenly turned to skepticism as Gajeel started pressing Kyousuke for answers.

"Hold on, how the hell do you know my name kid?"

"On this planet, everyone thinks you're a fictional character. Your like a character from a storybook that exists in real life." Kyousuke explained, to which Gajeel spat. It sounded too stupid to be true.

"Ridiculous." He spat, to which Kyousuke replied.

"As ridiculous as it sounds, it's the truth. I know about you Gajeel, the fact that you're an iron dragon slayer, go to the Fairy Tail guild and have an exceed named Pantherlily that you have as your partner." Kyousuke explained to Gajeel, who looked at him in shock. The idea was so weird and unusual that even he didn't know how to take it, but it was what it was. Gajeel looked at Kyousuke with his arms crossed, raising a brow as he looked at him confused. Even though Kyousuke was spot on, Gajeel wasn't the trusting type.

"You ain't wrong, but why the hell should I believe you?"

"I just told you about yourself, that's not convincing enough for you? If you stopped getting so defensive with me I could help you out," Kyousuke complained in irritation. That was enough to provoke Gajeel to get up in his face without hesitation.

"You looking for a fight kid? I'll give you one right here." Gajeel threatened, to which Kyousuke backed off. He didn't intend to start a fight.

"I'm not trying to start anything,"

"Then what the hell are you saying?!" Gajeel said in confusion. Eventually, Kyousuke just sighed. He calmed down and tried to explain it in the best way possible.

"Look, I'm just as confused about this as you are. I know that you really don't want anything to do with me and don't want to be here, but if you listen to me and let help you out, I can get you through this place. It's like I said, people think you're a fictional character. You go out into the world without thinking, and you're just going to attract attention. I know you don't want that." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel, hearing him out, decided to give in and just let him help out, as much as he didn't want it. Kyousuke's point was convincing enough for Gajeel to work with him on this.

"Alright fine..." Gajeel said calmly, crossing his arms once again and standing back. Kyousuke didn't know how to feel about it; it was full on Gajeel for sure, no imposter here. "So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Just stay here. There's a large bin full of metal over there for you to munch on if you're hungry. I'll explain everything to you later, as for now, just wait here. I'll be back with some stuff that you'll be better off with." Kyousuke explained. With all said and done, he left the shop and closed the door behind him, leaving Gajeel just standing there with his arms crossed as he watched it happen. He stood there in wonder, wondering about who he was and how he managed to know so much about him. The idea of being a fictional character, or at least have that kind of identity, was strange. However, something else was more intriguing to him.

" _Who the hell is that kid and why does he smell familiar_?" Gajeel said in surprise. He wondered, picking up on a familiar scent that he couldn't identify. Whatever it was, he couldn't figure it out now, so he just left it at that and went to chew on some iron.

Eventually, time passed, and it was night time. Kyousuke had to deal with more crap from his parents, it just being the way things were and managed to find some time to help Gajeel in the midst of it. When his parents were in bed, around 9:00 at night, Kyousuke managed to get some stuff for Gajeel and headed back out to the shop, quietly heading in and creating little noise. As he went in and shut the door behind him, he was met by Gajeel chewing on some iron, sitting on one of the chairs there as he did. He saw Kyousuke with some stuff and felt somewhat better about it.

"It's about time you showed up. What the hell were you doing in there?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke just dismissed it with a general answer.

"Dealing with people," Kyousuke stated. He went up to Gajeel and handed him some things, things he would enjoy and like to have for the night. "I got you a sleeping bag, a pillow, and the keys to the RV. Just unlock the door, and you can sleep in there; it's better than on the floor." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel just observed it quickly, setting it down as Kyousuke went and sat in one of the chairs across from him. The shop had a built-in bond fire that went down into the shop floor, and it looked like Gajeel had already figured out how to set it up. "I see you got the indoor bond fire going on your own."

"It was nothing." Gajeel simply stated. Kyousuke felt like the conversation wasn't really going anywhere, so he decided to say something about what happened. As reserved as he was, he felt some desire to talk with him. How could he help it with everything that happened?

"I don't mean to sound like I'm stalking you or something with all of this information I know about you, it's just a situation that was out of my control," Kyousuke explained. Gajeel didn't seem to mind; he was looking at Kyousuke calmly, the piercing red eyes he had cut through Kyousuke like a knife with their intensity. His presence alone made Kyousuke feel like he was sitting before someone he felt relatable to, especially regarding how he revered him.

"It doesn't matter to me," Gajeel replied calmly. Kyousuke looked at him a bit surprised, just as Gajeel went to ask him a question of his own. "So then, since you know so much about me, wanna tell me who you are?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke took a deep breath as he went on to explain.

"I'm Kyousuke Watanabe. I live in a household where my parents keep me from doing anything, I go a high school where I learn about useless subjects that won't do me any good for my future, and I work a part-time job after school so I can make money and actually do something with my life." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel kind of liked he sarcastic tone, he didn't sugarcoat anything, and he respected that, though he didn't understand his situation.

"If you hate living with your parents, why the hell do you still live with them? Why don't you just move out?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke sighed as he went on, explaining his predicament.

"It's not that simple, if it was, I wouldn't be wasting my time in this dump. I have to live with them until I graduate high-school, and even then, I don't even know if that will do anything for me." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel didn't seem to be surprised or convinced for that matter.

"Sounds like a load of bullcrap to me," Gajeel stated. Kyousuke just sat there and went on.

"It's complicated, not many people think it's true. The people here are just as stupid as back in Magnolia for you, so don't be surprised." Kyousuke cleared up. Gajeel chuckled a bit at that, grinning a bit as Kyousuke showed a slight smirk. It was the most he could do at this point. As he sat there for a little bit, he decided to get back up and head back inside. He got up and started to head out as Gajeel stopped him.

"Where are you going?" Gajeel questioned.

"Back inside," Kyousuke responded, turning around and looking at him. Gajeel's face was as serious as ever, not that it differed from Kyousuke's. "There's also some beer in the fridge if you want any. I'll come back in tomorrow morning again, so sleep well if you can." Kyousuke explained. With that, he left and went back inside, heading to his room as Gajeel looked down at the stuff Kyousuke brought him. He went into the RV and put it all away. He liked his demeanor, and he wasn't irritating like most people were to him, though he felt like there was something more. He was smart enough to know that not everyone viewed things the way he did. With that he went off to bed, ending that day. The next day was going to be quite the shocker.

 **A/N: Review if you want to, just don't be an ass :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Not Your Average Kid

**_Chapter 2: Not Your Average Kid_**

It was the next day, the start of an entirely new experience for Kyousuke. He already had a hard time trying to sleep last night, having Gajeel on his mind the whole time. It was hard enough trying to sleep with everything that happened the day before; his mind raced like a formula one car. Waking up was frustrating as he barely got the kind of sleep he needed, though that was something he had trouble getting anyways. Being up and ready to go at 8:00 in the morning, he got up and headed downstairs. The first place to go to was the shop. His parents weren't home, so he didn't have to worry about them making derogatory comments or treating him like crap in some way, so he took advantage of their absence. Kyousuke went out to the shop and went in, closing the door behind him as he saw that the bond fire was out. Everything looked normal, except for seeing Gajeel eating iron out of the bin like yesterday. Gajeel heard Kyousuke come in and focused his attention on him, just as Kyousuke watched him. The question of Gajeel's eating habits entered Kyousuke's mind, looking at how much was left.

"Man, you eat a lot of iron. I didn't think you would go through half of the bin in one night." Kyousuke commented, to which Gajeel grabbed another piece and ate it. After chewing it down, he shot his usual look to Kyousuke.

"You're lucky salamander isn't the one eating all your crap," Gajeel regarded, prompting Kyousuke to sigh at the thought.

"Can't argue that one," Kyousuke commented, watching as Gajeel spit out some of the iron he was eating. The more he ate it, the more it grossed him out. Eventually, he stopped, standing there as he wiped his mouth after eating it all.

"This iron in here is junk, it's cover in soot and rusted," Gajeel commented. Kyousuke didn't seem surprised about that.

"It's scrap metal. For some reason, my parents collect trash bins containing large amounts of scrap metal that they never use, it just sits there for months on end." Kyousuke explained, prompting Gajeel to send him a perplexed look. Knowing what time it was, Kyousuke took the time to get Gajeel prepared for the day; he couldn't stay in the shop all day by himself. "Speaking of my parents, they're not here. You can come inside the house for a little bit." Kyousuke explained, preparing to leave as Gajeel followed him. He's stuck here, might as well see what's out there.

They went in through the back sliding door, which leads into their living room. To the right was the kitchen, and ahead of the two was the entryway into the house. They went towards the entryway, coming across a set of stairs on their left as they turned and went upstairs, going to their right and coming across a room. It happened to be Kyousuke's bedroom, and the two went inside. Gajeel kept silent, he just stood there analyzing everything as Kyousuke went about doing what he needed to do. The room had white-painted walls, a hardwood floor, and other things like his bed and clothes drawers. "Welcome to my humble abode, you'll find that everything here sucks." Kyousuke sarcastically joked. Gajeel didn't respond, just observing everything in it. Except for Kyousuke's desktop computer, nothing looked bizarre to him. He cut straight to the chase as Kyousuke got everything he needed school-wise.

"So what are we doing? Why did you bring me up here?" Gajeel questioned. As Kyousuke got everything situated, he was ready to go.

"You get a free one-ticket journey to see what my life's about. You're coming to school with me." Kyousuke told him. Despite having agreed to Kyousuke helping him earlier, Gajeel was quick to object.

"Hell no, I ain't going anywhere, I'm staying right here." Gajeel protested, to which Kyousuke argued against.

"If I didn't have to worry about my psychotic parents, I wouldn't mind you staying here. If they see you Gajeel, they will try to kill you. That's how they deal with 'intruders.'" Kyousuke explained. Gajeel crossed his arms and looked at Kyousuke with a grin on his face as if Kyousuke didn't know who he was.

"If they have a problem with me, I'll just have to teach them a lesson," Gajeel stated, popping his knuckles as if he was preparing for a fight. Kyousuke sighed in response, kind of expecting that he would react this way. Gajeel wasn't the type to walk away from a fight, especially when all he was doing was sitting around for the time being. Kyousuke had to find a way to convince him to come with him so he could avoid an impending calamity.

"You can't do that."

"Huh, what the hell are you talking about?" Gajeel reacted, to which Kyousuke was quick to respond.

"As much as I would enjoy you 'teaching my parents a lesson,' it's not that simple. The police would arrest you for trespassing of property and for invading their household. The police force is like this world's magic council, just trust me for this one time." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel gritted his teeth a bit at the idea, but what did he know about this world? As much as he regretted it, he agreed to follow Kyousuke to school.

"Alright kid, but on one condition. I better expect to have all the iron I can eat; I don't want any of that soot-covered junk." Gajeel explained, crossing his arms in response. Kyousuke gave a smirk in response; this was working according to plan.

"Done," Kyousuke stated, leaving it at that. With that, everything was settled; Kyousuke would have Gajeel head to school to avoid being persecuted and would repay him with iron to eat. It seemed all well and good, that is until they got to school and their plan was actually put into action. Kyousuke had to head to class without Gajeel; it should be obvious why that is. To compensate for this, he had Gajeel hide in empty classrooms and what not to keep him out of sight. Before heading to his first hour, he had him wait in the empty computer lab, which wouldn't be occupied until at least third hour. Gajeel though wasn't going to tolerate that.

"What the hell, I'm not just gonna sit around and wait in this dump! What the hell do you think I am?!" Gajeel angrily refused. Kyousuke knew this would happen, he had to figure out something though.

"I don't know what else to do, this the most I could think of at the moment. I told you, you can't get spotted or hell will break loose." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel hated the idea of being confined in a spot where he will have to hide from absolutely everyone, so much so that he actually was willing to reason his way out.

"Why the hell do I have to stay out of sight anyway? I ain't some kind of monster or something." Gajeel questioned, to which Kyousuke quickly responded.

"I get that you're human, but think; no one in this school is dressed like that, has that kind of hairstyle, and looks that menacing. You're not going to blend into the crowd." Kyousuke argued, to which Gajeel looked away irritated. It kind of annoyed him that he was right.

"Alright kid, I'll stay out of sight, but I'm not gonna wait around in this dump. I'll figure something out." Gajeel negotiated. Kyousuke, thinking over it and thinking about how easy it is for him to stay out of sight anyways, being asked to go undercover to get information about specific situations in the past. He let him go with his idea.

"Alright, that's fine, just meet me up at the emergency exit down the hall; I'll have some off time, and we can get out of this place and do something for a little," Kyousuke explained. Gajeel agreed to that, and they both set off on their thing, Gajeel doing what he will to stay out of sight as Kyousuke goes about his day as usual. Just another school day, as it seemed. He went to his first class and went through it like he always did, answering questions when it was asked of him and spending his other time keeping himself occupied. The first class was science class, going into depth on the solar system as usual. He took astronomy this year, not that taking a different course would've been any better. As the teacher went on about the earth and equations on velocity and speed, Kyousuke sat back and spent his time drawing. Usually, he would draw pictures of whatever it was that was on his mind, and this led him to draw pictures of Gajeel. He was dealing with the shock of it a lot better than usual, but he still couldn't get him off of his mind, especially now. As he drew him, a girl was sitting next to him and watched. She had long green hair, matched with a green sweatshirt and jeans. Her name was Roxanne; she knew about Fairy Tail and couldn't help but notice what Kyousuke was doing.

"Hey, isn't that Gajeel from Fairy Tail?" Roxanne asked, startling Kyousuke. Kyousuke looked up at her in surprise, stopping his drawing and focusing on her.

"Uh...yeah," Kyousuke said calmly. Roxanne couldn't help but pull off a slight smile at the thought, it now going through her head.

"Knowing you, he must be your favorite." She assumed. Kyousuke looked back down at the drawing before continuing on.

"Uh...he is, why do you ask?" Kyousuke questioned. Roxanne couldn't help but crossing her arms while giving her an intrigued look. It was like she knew things about him he didn't realize she did.

"It's obvious to me. I watch you every now and then; you have some things in common, like pent-up emotions and your negative worldly outlook." Roxanne commented. Kyousuke was slightly surprised, not that he showed it. He didn't necessarily agree though.

"I prefer realistic but okay," Kyousuke replied, watching as Roxanne went off and on about her favorite character.

"My favorite is Erza, she just has so much strength and honor. I admire the way she goes about things and the way she carries herself. It inspires confidence in me." Roxanne explained. Kyousuke just sat back and listened; minding his own business. This just brought him attention when he didn't want it, just great. As she was about to go on, the teacher went to ask the class a question.

"Alright, we've already gone over the equations for velocity and speed, can anyone tell me what the acceleration of gravity is?" She asked. As the teacher looked around for someone to give an answer. There weren't any hands being raised, so the teacher asked again. "Anyone?" She questioned. Kyousuke looked around to see that no one was going to answer the question, so he went to answer the question himself by raising his hand.

"Kyousuke..." the teacher asked in disappointment.

"It's..."

"I can't always have you and Roxanne answering all the time. Someone else needs to answer this time." The teacher explained, stopping Kyousuke right in his tracks. Kyousuke, startled by the response, sighed and just sat back as time went on. Roxanne couldn't help but shoot him a look of surprise as he just sat there with his arms crossed; now the class really wouldn't end. No one ever paid enough attention to do that well in this class, it was just a joke to them.

Finally, the class ended after an hour had passed and they all left to head to their next class. As Kyousuke was about to go to his math class, Roxanne stopped him before he could go anywhere.

"Hey, wait Kyousuke! I wanted to ask you something." Roxanne requested as Kyousuke turned and waited. Since when did anyone want to ask Kyousuke a question? It kind of annoyed him, but nevertheless, he waited as she went on about it. "I was just thinking, don't you think it would be weird if everyone from Fairy Tail suddenly came here, to our school, like for real?"

"Uh..." Kyousuke wondered. It was funny, that actually happened and here he is being asked that very question. It shocked him, what a coincidence. "Yeah, it would be. Honestly though, with them being here, my life wouldn't be so crappy." Roxanne couldn't help but laugh at the comment.

"Oh, that's so you. I'll talk to you later, see ya!" Roxanne said, taking off and heading to her next class as Kyousuke just stood there in surprise. What a weird question to be asked, especially after everything that happened. It made him think a little bit about it all, but it didn't stop him from heading to his next class. What was especially weird was Roxanne even having the audacity to talk to him when no one else would.

As the day went on, five class periods had passed, and it was finally lunch time for him. Kyousuke went out of the school through the cafeteria, heading to the emergency exit that he told Gajeel to meet him up at. Just as Kyousuke had asked, Gajeel was leaning up next to the school waiting for him near the emergency exit. He had his arms crossed as he watched Kyousuke approach him from the school, having his serious expression as always.

"Took ya long enough," Gajeel commented. Kyousuke just shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Sorry for making you wait so long."

"It's nothing." He replied. Kyousuke then started walking as Gajeel followed, heading off and out of the school as he went off somewhere to do something.

"I got through all five of my main courses, and my last hour is lunch. We can just leave the school and not have to come back until tomorrow." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel didn't seem to mind it, he just kept walking with Kyousuke as they went on their journey. "Now we can go ahead and get you that iron I promised you," Kyousuke explained as Gajeel grinned at the thought.

They took off from the school and made their way to a nearby junkyard. It took about an half-an-hour, not too long. It was a massive junkyard where people would drop off parts and things they abandoned, and so it all collected here. Sometimes they would organize certain things to make them easier to find. There was an area that had a large pile of scrap metal, something that Gajeel could definitely enjoy. It would just build up from things that people need anymore, it would get dropped off and separated like this. As they approached the massive heap, Gajeel put his focus on it as Kyousuke went on to explain it.

"I have no idea when my parents are going to get another heap of scrap metal, so, as I promised, dive in. This is the most you're going to get right now." Kyousuke explained, watching Gajeel already pick up a piece and licked it, leading to him eating it as he started chowing down on it. Kyousuke just stood back and watched as Gajeel took his own heaping, eating as much as he could for the time he had. It was just like Kyousuke saw in Fairy Tail, and that was both shocking and weird.

"This iron ain't great; it's better than that other crap though," Gajeel commented as he continued on with his meal. As time went about, some older worker came walking in on the two, talking about something random as he went to inform them of something. He was covered in oil.

"Hey, you know you can take all that for yourself, go on, why don't you..." He announced, suddenly stopping upon seeing Gajeel eating the iron. As Gajeel heard him, he quickly turned around while he was eating it as the older person stared at him at a loss for words. Gajeel was just eating metal in front of him like it was nothing, who in this world did that? So shocked by what he saw, he literally started walking back and left the two. "I'll just leave you two to it." He said, disappearing as Gajeel continued on eating. He eventually stopped and spit out the piece that he was finishing up on, standing there and looking at Kyousuke in wonder.

"Who was that?" He questioned. Kyousuke just stood there and shrugged his shoulder.

"Spectators, they came to watch you eat," Kyousuke said sarcastically. Gajeel just dismissed it and went back to eating more iron, finishing up not long after as they soon headed back home.

With Gajeel having had his filling for the day and Kyousuke getting school out of the way, they headed back home. Kyousuke managed to get Gajeel inside the house and up into his bedroom. It was better than having him wait out in the shop all night, and Kyousuke thought it would be better-having company while he finished up on his homework for school. Kyousuke was on his desktop computer typing up an essay for school as Gajeel lied on his bed and watched. Seeing what Kyousuke was up to, it made him both perplexed and slightly annoyed.

"You do anything else besides all this?" Gajeel questioned. His life wasn't very active like Gajeel's usually was, but that wasn't something that Kyousuke had control over. Kyousule continued typing up his essay as he responded.

"Other than my part-time job, no," Kyousuke explained. Eventually, Gajeel got up and started looking around the room as Kyousuke continued on the school work. Kyousuke's bedroom was very dull, it was white walls with barely anything hanging from them, except for a mirror and calendar. He had a desk and clothes drawer, and the desktop computer was carefully monitored so Kyousuke could only use it for school work and that's it. As much as Gajeel tried to piece what he knew together, some things just didn't add up like they were supposed to.

"Why don't you get the hell out of this dump?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke was quick to respond.

"It's like I said, I don't have that kind of freedom."

"Ridiculous, don't tell me you can't even head outside." Gajeel spat. Kyousuke was quick to argue back.

"You don't understand, even if I wanted to, I can't. It's a lot more complicated than you think." Kyousuke explained. This was when things started to get strange, especially for Gajeel. How the hell was Kyousuke so tied down that he couldn't even go outside and do something for himself?

"What's so complicated about getting out of here, huh? I don't get it." Gajeel questioned as he crossed his arms. Kyousuke just sighed. He knew that it would be difficult to explain, and eventually was about to give up trying. However...

"KYOUSUKE! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Someone screamed upstairs. Apparently, it was Kyousuke's father again, and hearing him like that made Kyousuke jump with fear, so much so that it shocked Gajeel, who stared at him wide-eyed and perplexed. Kyousuke instantly got up and started heading out, telling Gajeel to keep quiet.

"Do not say anything! Stay as quiet as possible and don't leave, this is serious." Kyousuke explained in alarm, leaving the room as Gajeel watched in shock. Kyousuke went downstairs to talk with his parents, who were there at home as Gajeel stayed up in his bedroom and listened in. Something was weird, really off, not right at all. He could tell that Kyousuke was far from the ornery type, and at that moment he could sense real, genuine fear coming from him. Keeping the door closed, Gajeel went up to the door and listened out to hear what was going on downstairs that had to be so wrong.

"I get back home from work again and what the hell do I hear, that you got into trouble again?! What the hell did I tell you, are you deaf?!" His father screamed at him, to which Kyousuke was quick to defend.

"This kid at school wouldn't leave me alone, he was trying to pick a fight with me; I wasn't going to just stand there and take it!" Kyousuke tried to defend himself, which didn't do any good as it still went downward.

"This is the third time this year! If I get called down to the school one more time, I'm gonna beat your ass you punk! Can't you do what the hell you're told?!" He screamed at Kyousuke. The mom there tried to calm the dad down and make him stop, but it was only that. Kyousuke wanted to defend himself once again to no avail.

"I'm not trying to get into trouble, these people won't leave me alone! If I don't do something about it, they'll just beat me up!" Kyousuke tried once again. As Gajeel listened, he heard a bunch of glass shattering downstairs, hearing the mom start screaming for the dad to stop as he could hear a commotion taking place.

 _"What the hell is going on down there?"_ Gajeel thought to himself in shock and wonder; was Kyousuke being physically abused? Soon enough, he could hear footsteps coming upstairs and listened out, staying put as he deduced that it was just Kyousuke.

"I don't want to hear or see you ever again tonight, don't show your face here or I will beat your ass!" The dad screamed again, just as Kyousuke continued on up back to his room. Within a few seconds, Kyousuke came back in and closed the door, not looking at Gajeel as he headed straight for his computer desk and sat back down. Gajeel watched as he just sat there, putting a hand on his head stressed out and doing nothing.

"What the hell happened down there?!" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke refused to answer it.

"Nothing, everything's fine." He stuttered. Gajeel angrily persisted, knowing that wasn't an answer.

"Give me a break, he said he was gonna beat your ass kid..."

"I said I'm FINE!" Kyousuke shouted, causing Gajeel to stare at him, being taken-aback by Kyousuke's response. He looked frustrated and confused, watching Kyousuke in shock as Kyousuke eventually realized what he just did, looking at him in shock before turning back to the computer screen. He quickly became depressed. "I'm sorry alright, I just don't need you worrying about this," Kyousuke explained. He put his arms on the desk and put his head in his arms, lying down completely upset as Gajeel just sat there and watched. Something was definitely wrong, especially with what went down over something minor. After witnessing that, Gajeel started to believe Kyousuke more; a decent father wouldn't threaten to abuse their own child.

 _"He ain't lying, that's for sure. Whatever the hell is going on here, it ain't right. I gotta figure out what's going on."_ Gajeel thought to himself. He had a reason to keep staying here, and even though he can't remember how he got here, he can at least figure out what this place is. What is Kyousuke going through, and why is he being held down so tightly?


	3. Chapter 3: Scars

_**Chapter 3: Scars**_

Another day had passed, and ever since Kyousuke got caught up in that incident the night before, Gajeel couldn't stop thinking about what he had been caught up in. What happened was so extreme that something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't understand why Kyousuke didn't try to fight back or run away from the place. It almost seemed like that he chooses to stay there, but he couldn't jump to conclusions. The information that he did have didn't make sense, but he decided to give it a rest and let time tell. Having gotten up and found out that it was five minutes till 8:00, he left the shop and went in the house, heading straight up to Kyousuke's bedroom. When he got upstairs, he opened the door and went in, only to find that Kyousuke was still sleeping. Instead of being careful about it though, Gajeel got a wicked idea. He grinned sinisterly and walked into the room, standing next to Kyousuke as he got right up in his face, looking him dead straight as he went about waking him up.

"WAKE THE HELL UP KID!" He screamed as Kyousuke jumped out of terror from his bed, stumbling out of bed and running right into his closet door as Gajeel just stood there are chuckled in the process.

"What the hell was that for?! You scared the shit out of me!" Kyousuke shouted in horror, watching as Gajeel crossed his arms and chuckled over it. Kyousuke looked at him terrified as Gajeel just grinned at him; it was the most entertaining thing that happened thus far.

"Now you're up, let's get going and get the hell out of here," Gajeel suggested, Kyousuke just standing there in shock. It took a minute for him to process, but eventually, Kyousuke managed to get up and start getting ready to go.

"Right..." Kyousuke calmly replied, getting clothes out so he could get ready. "Since when are you ready to get going?"

"I've been more ready than you've been," Gajeel commented, to which Kyousuke sighed in defeat. He got his clothes out and started getting other things ready.

"Dammit, you're right," Kyousuke said, preparing to get ready as he went on. "My parents aren't here, as you know, so if you want to get washed up and take a shower, go ahead." Kyousuke offered. With that, Gajeel went ahead and headed for the bathroom, going and taking a shower to clean himself up as Kyousuke got ready for another day of lackluster education.

It wasn't long before the two were ready and headed to school. They got there the same way as usual, by walking, and they went about their day with the same gameplan. Gajeel would stay out of sight as usual while Kyousuke would head to class and go through the day as usual. Today was a lucky day for the two, it was an early release.

"Meet me at the same location, just be there by 11:00." Kyousuke requested at the front of the school. Gajeel looked at him surprised.

"11:00?" He questioned.

"It's an early release day, so I'll be out at that time. We can head out and do something for a little bit while we have the time." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel agreed and took off, staying out of sight as Kyousuke went to each of his classes.

The day went by, as usual, nothing out of the ordinary or unusual, at least until his 5th period that day. Roxanne tried to talk to him again in class as he listened to his Science teacher fail to educate the uneducable. Nothing else was surprising or entertaining, people avoided him, classes were boring, he only learned what he needed to pass the test, and that was pretty much it. It wasn't until 5th hour that something at least interesting happened. As he was working on an English assignment for class, suddenly the announcements went off.

"Ms. Areca, can you please send Kyousuke Watanabe down to the principal's office. Thank you!" The announcements said. Ms. Areca turned to Kyousuke as he got up and took off down there, ignoring the comments made by the other classmates about how much trouble he was in; idiots gossip when depth is lacking. This happened often, and it wasn't for a good reason either. Kyousuke made his way to the principal's office, and within a few minutes, he was already down there. He came face to face with a businesswoman wearing a black business suit and glasses with blonde hair that went down to her neck. There was another woman there with long dark brown hair and a white business suit, and that was the assistant principal. As Kyousuke went into the office and closed the door behind him, he was quickly met with a stern voice that demanded his attention.

"Kyousuke Watanabe, I see that you've been called down here once again." She explained. Her tone was quite stern, more disciplinary rather than nonchalant. "I assume you already know why I called you down here." It wasn't long before Kyousuke grew a slightly irritated look on his face.

"Actually no, I don't know," Kyousuke replied. This had happened so many times that Kyousuke wasn't in the mood to deal with it, but it continued on regardless. The principal turned and shot Kyousuke a stern look of disapproval, her assistant mirroring her expression.

"That's funny because you're completely involved in it." The principal commented. At that moment she slid a few pictures towards Kyousuke, his attention being focused on them as he went to grab them as she went on. "It seems that there's been an unknown individual roaming freely within the school, and I suspect that you're at the helm of it." The principal explained. Kyousuke went and looked through the pictures, realizing that they managed to capture snapshots of Gajeel trying to stay undetected on school grounds. Despite him being unable to remain altogether out of sight, the pictures weren't enough to convince Kyousuke of anything.

"Okay, so what do I have to do with this?" He questioned. The principal clapped her index fingers together as she went on to explain.

"You see Kyousuke, that's the thing, with the kind of history that you have in the school, there would be no other viable option. You unmistakably are the most suspicious amongst the students, and if I said so myself, you would be one to try to bring an individual onto school boards that weren't allowed, am I right?" The principal questioned persistently as the assistant nodded with her.

"With your history of school fights, having stolen drugs and alcohol, and the kind of property damage and vandalization you have done, there's no other reason to see why it wouldn't be you." The assistant added on. Kyousuke only continued to observe the pictures before continuing on with an explanation. He wasn't impressed.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You expect me to believe that I am at the helm of bringing in an unwarranted individual when you have absolutely no proof of me doing so, have absolutely no facial recognition of the individual in question, and have falsely accused me of having caused many incidents I never have done?" Kyousuke explained. The principal continued to argue with Kyousuke on the matter despite him having seen straight through it.

"Explain yourself."

"First off, none of these pictures show the person's face. How are you going to identify them without any facial recognition? Secondly, you have no proof I was involved in this, and here you are trying to put the blame on me."

"You are aware of what you have done in the past, aren't you? Despite your stellar academic performance within the classroom, your school behavior record is nothing short of unclean." The assistant chimed in, though Kyousuke didn't seem to be surprised.

"The only incidents that I was even a part of were the school fights. After many police investigations on the stolen drugs and alcohol in the school, you realized that it wasn't me but a couple school rejects named Logan Fisher and Dylan Sprouse. Let's not forget that the school vandalism was also part of Logan's revenge plan for having got in trouble in the first place, and here you are trying to turn the whole thing on me. At least have some proof of who the one going about this is before putting the blame on someone." Kyousuke explained. The two principal's expressions quickly went soft and sorrow as they realized that Kyousuke wasn't going to go down as they planned. With that, they decided to let him go.

"Alright, you've been in here long enough. You can be on your way." The principal finished, letting Kyousuke go as he headed out of the office and went back to class. Despite having been proven wrong on this occasion, the principal wasn't happy with it. She crossed her arms angrily and looked away from the door, upset that she wasn't able to prove the case this time. "That kid is too smart." She spat, annoyed over the whole ordeal as the assistant could give a light smile of reassurance.

With that out of the way, Kyousuke went about his day as usual. When the class ended and the day was over, which only meant about five minutes of class time left for Kyousuke, he was ready to head out and go about the rest of the day like planned. As he prepared to leave the classroom, however, he was met with an unexpected sight.

"Hey, look who it is," Roxanne commented, watching as Kyousuke stopped and looked at her surprised. Of all people, it was her again, what did she want with him? Kyousuke held a strap of his backpack as he looked at her in question.

"What are you doing here?" Kyousuke questioned with slight annoyance, watching as Roxanne started following him as he began heading out. She seemed to have something to talk about, strangely enough with Kyousuke.

"I was just thinking about what I was talking about yesterday, you know, with how if Fairy Tail came here and all for real. It was just strange..." Roxanne went on. Kyousuke started to look at her with a wide-eyed expression; did she have the same dilemma that he did with Gajeel? "You said that your life wouldn't be so crappy, is that how deep your relationship runs with the guild?"

"Uh..." Kyousuke sighed; it wasn't like he thought, just persistent questioning in an attempt to crack open his tightly sealed outer shell. "If that's how you see it." He responded. As they headed outside, he started to worry; he didn't need to deal with the shock of her coming across Gajeel's presence, especially with how she is right now. That is just not the kind of attention that neither Kyousuke or Gajeel would enjoy, and Kyousuke had to do something about it.

"Well come on! Tell me more, I mean I always thought that it would be nice to have Erza here you know. She could guide me throughout the school or something like that, help me out. I kind of look up to her in that way. Do you have that same kind of admiration for Gajeel?" She questioned. At that moment the two stopped in their tracks, talking about the whole thing as time passed. Kyousuke couldn't help but feel lured into this conversation unwillingly.

"It's more than just admiration; it's like relation."

"I see, it's because you feel you're like him in certain ways. That makes you feel closer to him, doesn't it? You ever get 'that' kind of feeling for him?" Roxanne explained, surprising Kyousuke. That was territory Kyousuke wasn't going to go into.

"I don't know how to answer that."

"Tell me later! I'll come around and pick you up in my car, just wait here." Roxanne requested, taking off and heading to the school parking lot to get her car. If Kyousuke could drive he would, but unfortunately he, in his dire circumstances, didn't have that kind of luxury. Despite such, Kyousuke went on purposely ignoring Roxanne's request, going ahead to find Gajeel. He went straight to the emergency exit next to the school, and sure enough, Gajeel was there like he was supposed to be. Having his arms crossed, Gajeel sent Kyousuke a grin as Kyousuke looked at him perplexed.

"Hey, looks like you've got friends, kid." Gajeel kidded, to which Kyousuke sighed in response.

"She's not my friend, she just wants to talk to me all the time, there's a difference," Kyousuke explained as the two started to take off. As they went on, Gajeel kept on teasing him.

"You wanna tell me about how much you admire me?" Gajeel persisted, to which Kyousuke shooked his head in disappointment.

"Don't tell me you heard all of that!"

"What do you think?"

"That's great, I forgot you have an especially keen sense of hearing," Kyousuke remembered. As they went on and left the school while dealing with Kyousuke's embarrassment, they suddenly find themselves in a whole other situation. A Silver Audi TT Quattro pulls up next to them as they go ahead and walk on by, stopping in front of them and rolling down the window, revealing the driver to be Roxanne of all people.

"Did you think you could get away that easily?" Roxanne joked, watching as Kyousuke put a hand on his head in frustration as Gajeel grinned. He was enjoying Kyousuke's predicament if anything, especially after making him wait so long.

"Well, our cover's been busted," Kyousuke explained. It took a little bit, but Roxanne eventually realized that Gajeel was standing there before her, prompting her to put the car in park and immediately jump out in shock.

"What the hell, am I seeing things?!" Roxanne shouted, running up to Gajeel and jumping right in front of him as he took a step back out of personal space invasion. "It is really you, I can't believe this is really happening right now!"

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Gajeel demanded, Roxanne, ignoring it as she fangirled in front of him. Now Gajeel was getting the brunt of it.

"This is unbelievable! No wonder you were trying to stay out of my sight." She told Kyousuke as he just stood back and watched calmly. It was out of his hands now, whatever happened was what happened.

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone, we don't need this kind of attention." Kyousuke requested sternly, to which Roxanne obliged. As much as she did, she seemed a bit too bubbly at times to be good at keeping secrets.

"Trust me, I can keep a secret. This will stay between the three of us." Roxanne calmly said, slightly surprising Kyousuke as Roxanne tried to fistbump Gajeel, to no avail. He just stared at her like she was asking for something that she didn't deserve. Realizing he wouldn't return it, Roxanne went back to her car and offered the two a ride home, or at least somewhere else for the time being. "I'll take you two wherever you want, hop in. First, though, we gotta head to the gas station, I'm running low on fuel." She offered. Kyousuke looked at Gajeel and smirked over it, while he kept a serious expression.

"Looks like you're starting a fanbase."

"Can it, kid." Gajeel spat as he went in the backseat of the car, Kyousuke smirking in response. Kyousuke was on the left back seat, Gajeel was on the right, and Roxanne was in the driver's seat. She had a lot of stuff sitting in the passenger seat so it would take more time to get it moved than just leave it where it was. Their first order of business was to head to the nearest gas station; Roxanne needed to fill up her car with gas and Kyousuke and Gajeel didn't mind it, so that's what they went along with. That was after she and Kyousuke went through a great deal trying to convince Gajeel to put on the seatbelt. As she drove there, she went on and asked the two questions about what was going on.

"I can't believe this is really happening, like do you realize how crazy this really is Kyousuke?!" Roxanne questioned in shock as Kyousuke sat back with his arms crossed. He was pretty aware of the situation at this point.

"Yeah, I'm just trying to get Gajeel adjusted to a fictional identity." Kyousuke alerted. Gajeel didn't like the idea of that though.

"The whole thing is stupid," Gajeel commented, Roxanne, jumping in on the conversation herself.

"That's right, everybody here thinks all you are is just a character. Good luck dealing with that." She explained to Gajeel, who seemed to be irritated by the whole thing as it was. He was sitting in the back slightly clenching his jaw over it as Kyousuke watched; it annoyed him, and Kyousuke could tell. Eventually, they got to the gas station, and Roxanne was about to head out of the car, but not before asking the two for something. "I'm gonna head into the store, what do you guys want?" She asked.

"Just get me a Sprite or something," Kyousuke asked.

"Alright, what about you Gajeel?"

"I don't want anything," Gajeel said, leaving Roxanne to leave the car and do what she needed. She first got the car set up to start putting in gas, and she then went into the store. As the two waited in the car, Kyousuke could tell that the thing irritated him. It kind of bothered Kyousuke to see that.

"You certainly weren't happy about that," Kyousuke commented. Gajeel kept his arms crossed as he sat there irritated.

"That's all I am to them, a character. Give me a break, I didn't come here to be put on a pedestal, I don't even know how the hell I got here." Gajeel complained. He kept his arms crossed and looked out the window in frustration; this whole idea of having to stay out of sight because of an unimposed identity crisis. Being known as just a character irritated him, it just felt superficial. Kyousuke looked at him and felt kind of sad for him, looking down at the car as he thought about it.

"I'm sorry," Kyousuke said calmly.

"Huh?" Gajeel said in surprise, turning and looking at Kyousuke. "What are you apologizing for?"

"I don't want to make you feel like that, and if I did, I didn't mean to," Kyousuke explained.

"You're not." Gajeel clarified. He looked at Kyousuke and realized how it bothered him; it was strange the way he could sense things in this world. Observing him, he saw a strange cut coming up on his back, his shirt being pulled down to reveal it. "What happened to you there?" Gajeel questioned, shocking Kyousuke as he realized what he was talking about. He quickly pulled up his shirt and tried to hide it, brushing it off like it was nothing.

"It's just a cut, nothing unusual." Kyousuke described. Gajeel could tell that Kyousuke was trying to hide it, he saw right through him.

"That wasn't any ordinary cut; you were whipped, weren't you?"

"It's nothing, why can't you just leave it at that?" Kyousuke defensively stated though Gajeel didn't believe it.

"I'm not stupid, what's the point of hiding it from everyone? No one's going to help you if they don't know something's wrong." Gajeel persisted. Kyousuke then realized that Gajeel was already onto him; with everything that had already happened, there wasn't any point in hiding it from him. It even occurred to him that it was ironic that he would do so, considering how much he wanted someone who could see what he was going through. With that, Kyousuke pulled off his shirt to reveal what was underneath, Gajeel coming face to face with something that he didn't expect. He widened his eyes in shock as he looked at what happened to him; it got so much worse so quickly. "What the hell, did they torture you?!" Gajeel questioned, referring to his parents as he saw Kyousuke's back wholly covered in whip marks from top to bottom. They were scars imprinted on his back, broad and red as hell, not even from scabs but from permanent muscle and tissue damage. Kyousuke put his shirt back on as he went on to explain the scars.

"They weren't from my parents. One day I tried to run away from my parents, the police arrested me and tortured me as punishment, then sent me back only to get beaten more once I got back home." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel just sat there in complete shock; Kyousuke was tortured for running from an abusive family and then sent back to that same abusive family, what the hell was happening?! "This is why I can't do anything, can't get out, can't have any freedom to do what I want. I have no power in this situation, or over myself." Kyousuke explained depressed, sitting there as Gajeel watched him. It started to make sense to him now, the question was how and why? Why Kyousuke of all people?

"Who else knows about this? Got some kind of screwed up authority running the place?" Gajeel questioned.

"No one, I'd just be sabotaging myself if anyone else found out. That's why I try to keep them hidden; I would be in worse trouble if someone else got in on it. As for the authority, it pertains to me only. This wouldn't happen to anyone else, at least not here." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel sat there and watched with mixed feelings running through him; he didn't know whether to be shocked and confused by this complication situation Kyousuke is trapped in or if he should be angry over the whole thing. He watched as Kyousuke went on a little more, feeling frustrated over it as it is. "I never had parents that told me they loved me or cared for me, all mine did was ruin my life. I can't even have real friends without them interfering." Kyousuke explained in frustration, almost about to break down over the whole thing. It was stressful as it was, he couldn't keep it inside, especially when someone has gotten this far into him. Gajeel sat there and watched, starting to feel something for him as he suddenly was caught off guard by a distant shout. At that moment, he unbuckled his seatbelt and went to get out of the car.

"Something's up in there." Gajeel alerted, getting out as Kyousuke was caught by surprise, getting out as well as the two headed inside of the gas-station store. The two came face to face with Roxanne trying to maneuver her way through some guy who kept trying to stop her, pressing on her despite her wanting to be left alone. He was bald and wore an orange shirt with torn up jeans, having ugly looking piercings on him and large gauges in his ears.

"I told you, I'm not interested, now leave me alone!" Roxanne said, watching as the guy kept pressing on her. He wouldn't leave her alone, and he backed her up to the wall and made it so she couldn't get away quickly.

"Come on baby, I just want some of your time, just come on and get down with me, girl." He pressed on, her refusing as she tried to get out.

"I said leave me the hell alone! Get out of my face!" She shouted, to which the guy grabbed her and pinned her to the wall, grabbing her by the chin and attempting to put his hands on her. Roxanne was breathing heavily as it happened, him refusing to leave her alone as he persisted against her will.

"Come on now, kiss me, I want to feel those luscious lips up against mine. You can't resist this." He pressed further, frustrating Roxanne as she felt paralyzed in the whole thing. She couldn't move, and it was only getting worse. Before he could actually kiss her, he was met with a disturbing welcome.

"Hey punk," Gajeel said, getting the guy's attention as he shot an angry look at Gajeel, watching him pop his knuckles as if he was getting ready for a beatdown. "You looking for a fight? Keep your hands off her."

"I'll put my hands on whoever I want!" The guy threatened, going to throw a punch at Gajeel and hitting him in the head. As much as it would've worked typically, it only caused the guy severe pain as Gajeel grinned, the guy coming into contact with his iron dragon slayer magic in action. "Oww, what the hell are you made of?! I think I broke my knuckles or something!" The guy complained, only to be met with Gajeel decking him in the face. The force of the punch was strong enough to send the guy flying up against the wall, bouncing off of it in pain as he tried getting back up to face Gajeel. He was only met with Gajeel pummeling him with an Iron Dragon's Club to the stomach, sending him straight across the room furiously and taking the guy out. While knocking the guy out, Gajeel also managed to make a massive trail of destruction because of his Iron Dragon's Club, not to mention the damage on the wall he made from the power of his punch in the first place. Gajeel packed his fists together in response, grinning over the whole ordeal as he needed something like that. Roxanne, being more scared by Gajeel's ferocity than the guy's aggression against her was more than pleased to have him here.

"Wow thanks, I owe you one." Roxanne thanked, just as Gajeel stretched and popped his neck in response.

"That felt good," Gajeel commented while chuckling over it. He needed that, it felt really good to him to be able to beat someone up and get his thirst for battle flowing again. Having finished his work here, he followed Roxanne as she went up to the counter to pay for the Sprite and a bag of BBQ Chips. With the destruction that took place though, the lady at the cash-register was down on the ground in pure horror, so terrified by Gajeel's strength that she chose to keep out of sight.

"Hey, I'm here to pay for..."

"Just take them! Just don't hurt me, please! They're free of charge!" The lady explained in horror, much to Roxanne's dismay. Whatever the case, she just went along with it.

"Alright, if you say so," Roxanne replied, shrugging her shoulders as she and Gajeel prepared to head out. They came across Kyousuke, who followed them out of the store like it was nothing. They got what they needed, and with that, they took off and went about the rest of their day. As Roxanne drove the two back to Kyousuke's place, she was so relieved that Gajeel was there to help her out.

"Man, that was crazy! You took him out like it was nothing, just like in Fairy Tail." Roxanne commented. Gajeel just sat back and had his arms crossed again, being calmer and having his usual expression.

"It was too easy; the guy couldn't even put up a fight," Gajeel said with disappointment. Regardless, Roxanne went on about how awesome it was that he was there.

"Well, I'm glad that you were there anyway! That's not the first time it's happened, so thanks." Roxanne said happily, just as Gajeel sat back there minding his own business.

"It was nothing," Gajeel replied, sitting back as usual as Kyousuke put his attention on him. As he thought about it, he always saw how he was in Fairy Tail and imagined how things would be if it were true, but it was different this time. The feeling was so real, it all being real in itself, that it just felt indescribable. He had been seeing Gajeel for the past couple days too, but he felt like was seeing how Gajeel really was in person, and that made him feel closer to him, even if no actual bonding was taking place.

* * *

Eventually, Roxanne drove to Kyousuke's place and dropped the two of them off, taking off after thanking Gajeel again for what he did as the two went inside and went straight up to Kyousuke's room. They were able to stay out of their parent's sight, so that was good, and they just went about things like usual. Gajeel sat on his bed with his arms and legs crossed, thinking hard about what he found out earlier. The more Gajeel thought about it, the more he felt like it was too orchestrated to be just some random circumstance. Kyousuke wasn't revealing all of the details, that is if he even knew all of them. As Kyousuke was about to sit on his chair, Gajeel went ahead and proceeded to find out more about what was really going on with him.

"There's still something you haven't told me." Gajeel brought up, surprising Kyousuke somewhat.

"What do you mean?"

"Those scars kid, something's going on. If this were a dictatorship, we wouldn't have been able to do all that. I want to know what the hell is so special about you that got you whipped like that." Gajeel persisted. Kyousuke realized what he was going on about, and sighed in response. He should've known that Gajeel was going to be this way, mainly since that it was just his nature to scope out the deeper context of a situation. With that, Kyousuke got up and went over to his desk, Gajeel watching as Kyousuke went through and got out a folder labeled "Special Documents." It was a folder where Kyousuke kept essential things about him and his past/future. He pulled out a large document containing information about his situation, handing it to Gajeel as he went ahead and read through it. Reading through it, he realized that this was a situation that was indeed out of Kyousuke's control; it was imposed upon him against his will, and he could do nothing about it. It went into detail about how the government had the right to restrain Kyousuke at any time and put him under extreme surveillance. It made sure to put him with parents that had to keep him under tight scrutiny and make sure that he was to do exactly everything that he was told without outside interference. It also stated that any form of excessive and unfair punishment would be allowed and deemed necessary to keep him from breaking the rules and to follow the contract at all costs. Despite all of these rules, there was no context given as to why they were imposed, and it was signed away against Kyousuke's will regardless. Reading through it only frustrated Gajeel as he couldn't figure out how the hell such a thing would even be allowed, but then again, this world was far from familiar to him.

"So this is the whole reason why you're stuck here huh?" Gajeel clarified, to which Kyousuke nodded. He grabbed the contract back from Gajeel and put it back in the folder as he went on about the deal.

"Now you know why I can't do anything outside of this house. I don't even know why I just know that I was for some reason the one that they decided to put under this strict contract." Kyousuke explained. The more Gajeel found out about it, the more it irritated him. Kyousuke didn't deserve that kind of crap, and yet here it is being imposed against him with no way out of it. "The government has it filed away in a secret database high up in the rankings, so even if I were to rip this contract, it wouldn't mean anything. I just keep it as a reminder of why I'm stuck in this hellhole." Kyousuke explained. With that, he sat down on the bed next to Gajeel as he put his hands on his head; the whole thing only caused him pain and nothing else. He had no power out of it, and it was like he was stuck in hell. Gajeel being here was the best thing that happened to him thus far, and still, Kyousuke feared what may happen in the future. With all that went down, it was clear to Gajeel precisely what Kyousuke was dealing with. The more he thought about it, the angrier it made him.

"Listen, kid, you want to get out of this?" Gajeel proposed. Kyousuke kept still and replied while dealing with the stress.

"I'd love to, just figure out how and I'll do it," Kyousuke explained. Gajeel got up and stood in front of him, looking him dead in the eyes as Kyousuke made eye contact with him. As they stared, Gajeel clenched his fist as he looked at Kyousuke.

"I'll get you out of this hell." Gajeel declared, shocking Kyousuke. He looked at him in astonishment as Gajeel held a hand out to him like they were going to arm wrestle, an act of declaration to him. Kyousuke didn't know what to say.

"What?" Kyousuke stuttered, watching as Gajeel grinned in response.

"I'm not gonna sit around and watch this happen, I'm gonna help you like you helped me, kid," Gajeel explained. Hearing that, Kyousuke grabbed onto his hand and accepted his declaration; from that moment on, they would work to break out of this hellhole and save themselves from it all.

"I accept," Kyousuke stated, leaving it like that as they let go and the declaration was solidified. With that, they now marked a new journey, something that would change the both of them. Kyousuke sat there and started to tear up emotionally, surprising Gajeel.

"What's the matter with you?" Gajeel questioned. Kyousuke didn't try to brush it off this time.

"I've never had someone do this for me; it means everything to me," Kyousuke explained as Gajeel grinned in response. With that, it was time to shape a new path. Things are going to change; it was time to break out of a cycle that was meant to be broken.


	4. Chapter 4: Breaking Away

_**Chapter 4: Breaking Away**_

Kyousuke's life was going to change today; Gajeel made a declaration that he was going to help Kyousuke get out of this mess and ever since he hasn't been able to stop thinking about it. No one has ever been close enough to Kyousuke just to see how horrible his circumstances were, and if they did they would've most likely been unable to do anything. Knowing of Gajeel's strength, Kyousuke knew things would be different this time around. The circumstances were so complex and intricate that Gajeel himself had a hard time trying to understand it all, but it made sense to him once Kyousuke revealed the contract that was bound onto him from the start. Unlike Gajeel, Kyousuke didn't have any magical abilities like the rest of the people here, so he couldn't just break free if he wanted to. Despite that, there was still something Gajeel sensed from him that confused him, it was both bizarre and unusual.

With all that happened the previous night, they decided to keep things going as they were and get started the next day, first off with trying to find a way to begin this breakaway. That was the hard part. As usual, Kyousuke was sleeping at around 8:00 in the morning and Gajeel got up early enough to meet him up in his room like yesterday. After having woken up and gotten his morning supply of iron, Gajeel made his way up to Kyousuke's bedroom once again as the latter was still asleep. Making his way into Kyousuke's room, he came in right when Kyousuke's alarm went off. At that moment, Kyousuke quickly got up and turned the alarm off, stretching for a bit until he realized that Gajeel was already at the door with his arms crossed standing there. Seeing him made Kyousuke raise a brow in surprise.

"This is going to be a daily thing now, isn't it?" Kyousuke commented, seeing Gajeel standing there and watching him. Gajeel didn't move a muscle in response.

"Ya better get used to it," Gajeel remarked, prompting Kyousuke to get up out of bed and start getting ready.

With that, the same thing happened as usual; Kyousuke would head to school, and Gajeel would stay out of sight. They got ready and took off straight to school with the same gameplan. Once they arrived at the school, Gajeel immediately departed and went about staying out of sight as usual while Kyousuke headed to class and went through the day again. Another day of boring class to go through, nothing more exciting here. Getting called down to the principal's office yesterday was more exciting than being in the classroom, even if Kyousuke thought of it as a nuisance.

In Kyousuke's first hour, Roxanne, of course, had some things to talk about with Kyousuke, especially regarding what happened yesterday. As the teacher went on trying to teach the oblivious students of the class, Roxanne decided to hold a conversation with Kyousuke, despite him not being in the mood for it.

"Hey Kyousuke," Roxanne said, catching his attention as he stopped drawing a picture of a lightning storm, "I wanted you to thank Gajeel again for me for what he did. That was a crazy situation."

"Sure, I'll thank him for the third time." Kyousuke sarcastically remarked. Roxanne seemed calmer and less energetic than she usually was.

"Seriously though, I'm not trying to sound annoying or anything. That guy was serious about getting into areas he wasn't allowed in." Roxanne explained. The teacher went on to explain information about the earth's atmosphere and how sound travels through different elements in the universe. She went into detail about how such affected the speed of sound depending on what it was passing through, such as certain walls or objects. As she went on, Kyousuke listened to Roxanne go on as time passed by. "I just want to know how Gajeel is managing to stay undetected in the school."

"That's none of your business," Kyousuke stated, attempting to return to his drawing as Roxanne pressured him into talking about it; she really wanted to know.

"Come on Kyousuke! With everything that happened, I should be able to know. It's not a secret anymore, at least with me." Roxanne argued convincingly. Kyousuke sighed in response as he stopped drawing once again; he was about to draw it electrocuting some people he really didn't like in school, like the principal. With what she said, it would just be needlessly stubborn for him to withhold it.

"Alright fine; he's just managing to stay undetected on his own. You know how good Gajeel is on espionage missions."

"But what about the school cameras?"

"There's the problem; he can't go completely undetected because of how tight this school's security is. He's already been caught on camera by the school itself."

"That doesn't sound good," Roxanne noted. Kyousuke continued to explain the ordeal.

"No, but our principal is idiotic and obsessed with trying to bring me down; she only caught photos of Gajeel's back turned to the cameras and tried pinning me down as the suspect with no evidence of me."

"That's good." Roxanne sighed in relief. Kyousuke went into detail.

"Yeah, let's just hope it stays that way; I don't need more trouble than I've already got," Kyousuke explained. With that, Roxanne was perfectly aware of Gajeel's situation in the school, and knowing that made her feel better about what Kyousuke was up to. Eventually, the class had ended, and Kyousuke was off to the next period, not saying a word to Roxanne as he went on. As he left the classroom, she stood there for a moment and stared at him, wondering what was really going on with him as she headed to her next class. Kyousuke went to his math class, and everything was fine and dandy. His third period, AP Music Theory, went on just fine. However, within minutes of the class period ending, the announcements went off again.

"Excuse me, can you have Kyousuke Watanabe come down to the principal's office as soon as possible, thank you!" The announcements went off. That was the last thing Kyousuke needed, especially with everything that was going on.

"Oh great, here we go again," Kyousuke said to himself in frustration. He knew that it was going to be about Gajeel again, and probably in some cheap attempt to pin Kyousuke as the suspect in question once again. They had a habit of putting the blame on him whenever they got the chance. Though something felt off this time around, Kyousuke could feel it. He was afraid the situation would be worse, but he wasn't one unable to get himself out of sticky situations.

* * *

Outside, just as Kyousuke was heading to the principal's office, Gajeel waited in front of the school. He lied up against the brick walls of the school, having his arms crossed and his focus on the grassy ground before him. He couldn't stop thinking about Kyousuke's situation and how it tied into all of this. He was stuck here and somehow managed to get caught up in the circumstances of some 18-year-old suffering from extreme forms of abuse and neglect. As much he understood why Kyousuke wasn't able to get himself out of this situation, there was just something about him that didn't make sense to Gajeel.

"Ever since I got stuck in this damn place, I've been stuck with this kid. He seems normal, but something's up with everyone else." Gajeel thought. It was weird, something stood out with Kyousuke that didn't with everyone else. "I can't sense a damn thing from anyone except him. I can sense where he is and all, but nothing from anyone else." He thought once more. Kyousuke's energy could be sensed by Gajeel, but he couldn't sense anything from any other person. It was strange, what was up with Kyousuke, or up with everyone else? "That girl Roxanne was the same way, I could tell something was up with her right off the bat." Gajeel continued to think over. Whatever it was, something was up with Roxanne and Kyousuke, or at least it seemed that way. As he thought over the strangeness of the situation, he suddenly found his attention diverted to a couple of people approaching him from ahead. Standing merely a few feet away from him were two police officers approaching Gajeel like he was some kind of intruder of some sort.

"Hey, you! We have special orders to detain you and bring you in; we can either do this the easy way or the hard way." One of the officers explained. Gajeel gave them a perplexed look like they were stepping into something they shouldn't be. What were a couple police officers doing out here?

"What the hell?" Gajeel questioned, prompting the other officer to explain further.

"Come with us, or we'll forcibly arrest you ourselves, we're not playing around." The officer informed. Gajeel realized that they weren't going to leave him alone this time around, and he had to do something about it.

"Screw that. Mind your own damn business!"

"You asked for it!" The officer shouted, attempting to jump on him with the other officer as Gajeel saw it coming. In that instant, Gajeel threw the two officers off of him and threw him across the grass, getting ready for a fight as he knew the officers weren't going to leave him alone. As the officers landed, they quickly got up and headed right back after him. "Get him!" One of them shouted, prompting Gajeel to grin as he got ready for what was about to happen.

"Looks like they want a fight; I was getting tired of sitting around doing nothing all day," Gajeel said passionately as he clenched his fists. He got ready to do his daily workout for the time being.

* * *

As for Kyousuke, he found himself heading straight to the principal's office once again. Repeating the exact same actions as before, he went straight into the principal's office and stood before the principal. This time, however, he was greeted with a very different presence. Not only was the principal and the assistant principal there, but there were also three police officers waiting for him, carrying batons that they were clapping in their hands as they waited for his arrival. The principal, holding her hands together above the desk, shot Kyousuke a very stern and disappointed look as she put out three more pictures and had a video going off on her computer screen facing him. It was almost like some kind of setup.

"Oh Kyousuke, it's you again. I should've known that it would've come to this." The principal stated in distress. Kyousuke looked at her a bit confused, trying to figure out what she was going on about.

"What are you talking about?" Kyousuke questioned. However, his answer was immediately given when he watched the video that was being displayed right before him; video evidence of him working with Gajeel and trying to make sure he would stay out of school sight. This time they actually managed to get facial recognition, so there was no way Kyousuke would be able to argue himself out of this one this time. The images on the desk where close up, clear facial shots of him and Gajeel taken by the school, proving that Kyousuke was indeed the suspect behind Gajeel's school "intrusion".

"As you can see right here, we now have the sufficient evidence to prove that your guilty of this incident. You may have been able to cleverly argue your way out of the last accusation, but this time the cards are all against you. If you think you're getting out of this one, you better think again, Kyousuke Watanabe." The principal explained in great detail. Kyousuke realized that he wasn't going to get out of this situation like he did last time. It only further proved itself as the officers there started to move in on Kyousuke in an attempt to restrain him and keep him from leaving; they were hell-bent on making sure Kyousuke didn't get away with this. "Officers, make sure that he doesn't try to leave while we deal with him in this severely punishable offense." She explained.

"Crap, I need to get out of here now!" Kyousuke thought to himself in shock, immediately turning tail and heading out. At that moment, the officers tried to jump on him to stop him, but Kyousuke was quick enough to avoid them as they all landed on one another. Within seconds, Kyousuke was out of the office and making his getaway, making the principal quite angry and frustrated.

"That damn troublemaker, head after them! See that he doesn't get away, use excessive force if you have to!" The principal shouted, prompting the police officers to immediately get up and head straight after Kyousuke. Upon the officers leaving, the principal made way with her next plan of action; she wasn't done with him just yet. "Call his parents, make sure they're aware of the trouble he's caused and make sure that he doesn't get away with it. This time he's not getting out of this!" She alerted the assistant, her quickly doing so and immediately dialing his parents' numbers.

As Kyousuke ran as fast as he could, the police officers were on his tail and catching up to him; Kyousuke couldn't run that fast with all the weight he was carrying on his backpack, it only slowed him down.

"Stop right there! You are under arrest!" They shouted, attempting to try to stop Kyousuke as they slowly started to catch up to him. Kyousuke, realizing that this backpack was more of a hindrance than a help, took it off and turned around in an instant, throwing it at one of the police officers before he turned back and continued on running. The weight and force of the backpack were enough to knock one of the police officers down on the ground, leaving the other two to try to catch up with Kyousuke. Being near the end of the hall in the school, Kyousuke took a sharp left and ran straight down to the end of the aisle, seeing an emergency exit at the end of the corridor. Having to stop and throw the backpack at one of the officers gave the other two a significant advantage and cut out a considerable amount of space between him, creating another problem for Kyousuke. With Kyousuke managing to get to the emergency exit, he ran straight out and held the door open for the little time it took the police officers to catch up to him. Waiting at just the right moment, both police officers managed to head out both doors of the emergency exit, prompting Kyousuke to slam the door shut at the right moment. In doing so, Kyousuke managed to slam the door right into the other police officer, knocking him out and putting him out of commission as Kyousuke put yet another police officer down. In the short time that passed after, the last police officer tried to jump onto Kyousuke and grab him, prompting Kyousuke to quickly push him off and away from him as he landed on the grass ahead of him. With so much adrenaline running through him, he shot off right pass the police officer and around to the front of the school like a lightning bolt, prompting the officer to get up and continue to pursue Kyousuke. It wasn't over just yet.

"I'll teach you not to disobey the law when I catch up with you! You better get back here right now!" The police officer shouted to no avail. Kyousuke was already making his getaway and had a plan of action in his mind.

"I need to find Gajeel right now, this is bad!" Kyousuke thought to himself in a hurry. Not long after the thought crossed his mind, he came across Gajeel, having taken care of the police officers from earlier. They lied down on the ground knocked out and bruised up, thanks to Gajeel. He focused his attention on Kyousuke as he saw him coming straight for him, getting ready as Kyousuke approached. "They're after me Gajeel, I'm gonna send him to you!" Kyousuke alerted as Gajeel got ready to take him out. Within that instance, Kyousuke managed to get a few feet in front of Gajeel, enough distance for his plan to work. As the police officer approached Kyousuke, he jumped right towards him and slid straight under him, forcing him off of his feet like he was sliding towards a base in baseball. As the police officer took air and flew right in Gajeel's direction, the officer couldn't stop Gajeel's fist from coming into contact with his face as he was sent flying right into the school, being knocked out from the force of the punch and falling to the ground helplessly. With him out of the way, Kyousuke took some time to get some air as Gajeel held his wrist and clenched his fist. He chuckled over the whole ordeal, this being fun to him as Kyousuke got some air and managed to calm down a bit.

"That'll teach them not to mess with me," Gajeel said while popping his knuckles. At that moment, Kyousuke got Gajeel's attention in the sense of urgency.

"Gajeel, we have to get going right now!"

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Gajeel questioned.

"The police are after us, we don't have time to waste!" Kyousuke alerted. At that moment, Gajeel could hear some incoming police officers from afar, and at that moment he immediately took off as Kyousuke followed. Heading straight for Kyousuke's house at that moment, Gajeel got quickly irritated.

"Dammit kid, what the hell did you do?! How did they find out I was here?!" Gajeel shouted, prompting Kyousuke to explain.

"I forgot to tell you that the school managed to take screenshots of you with the built-in security cameras; it was only a matter of time before they pinned us down," Kyousuke explained, frustrating Gajeel as the two continued their getaway back to the house. Kyousuke didn't know any other better option, and with the police on their tail, there really wasn't anywhere else better to go.

Outside of the school parking lot, sitting across from the school sat an Audi TT Quattro, watching Gajeel and Kyousuke runoff from the school as the police tried to follow from afar. In the car was none other than Roxanne, observing the two make their getaway as she was perfectly aware of what was going on. As she watched it all unfold, she pulled out a black cellular device as she tried to get into contact with someone, not known who.

"Hey listen, Kyousuke's making his getaway right about now. I think it's time that we make our next move." Roxanne explained. It seemed that Roxanne was up to something, but what that something was had yet to be revealed.

* * *

Eventually, making their way down his neighborhood, Kyousuke and Gajeel realized that the trouble that was on their tail had dissipated. There wasn't a single cop in sight, and it was mainly just the two of them running through a neighborhood.

"Looks like we lost them," Gajeel stated. Kyousuke wasn't too sure, however.

"Something doesn't feel right, we should be careful of an ambush or something," Kyousuke explained as Gajeel nodded. Eventually, in time, they made it back to the household, taking some time to catch their breath, or at least Kyousuke, as they both made their way into the house. It was time that they got some kind of relief from this persistent trouble that followed them everywhere they went. "Alright, we should be okay for a little bit." Kyousuke alerted, heading in through the front door as Gajeel followed. With his parents being out at work and no one being at the house, they could take the time to make their actual getaway and get something done in this mess for once.

Opening the front door and making their way inside, Kyousuke went in first followed by Gajeel. Feeling a sense of relief fill him up from the inside, all of that was instantly shot down when he was confronted with a shocking reality.

"Did you really think you and your punk ass friend would get away this time?" A scruffy voice said. Looking up, the two saw both Kyousuke's parents there standing mere feet away from the both of them. His father was there carrying a sizeable pump-action shotgun in his hand while looking at him with an angry expression, his mom standing behind him and holding onto him as the whole thing took place. Kyousuke's put out an air of horror as Gajeel shot his parents a combative look, Kyousuke trying to understand how this was happening.

"What the...you're not supposed to be here!" Kyousuke shouted, only to be proven wrong as his father explained the situation.

"The next time you want to try getting away with breaking the rules, tell your principal to keep quiet. You aren't very good at being low-key you punk." He explained, Kyousuke getting frustrated as he tried to sort through it all.

"Damn her, how did this get past me?!" Kyousuke angrily thought, soon getting on guard as he prepared for what was about to go down next. His father came up to the two of them while pumping the shotgun, aiming it at Gajeel and preparing to take him out first before he dealt with Kyousuke.

"Didn't I tell you visitors weren't allowed?! Time to say your goodbyes punk." The father shouted as he shot at Gajeel, Kyousuke pushing him out of the blast range as he managed to dodge the blow. It didn't occur to Kyousuke that Gajeel would be impervious to bullets, especially the BBs of a shotgun. However, this only proved to be the better thing for Gajeel. Turning around, the two watched as a vast amount of energy followed with that blast, effortlessly tearing through the front door and leaving a large blast-radius in it as Kyousuke and Gajeel realized what they really were up against.

"Magic shotgun shells?! Where the hell did he get those?! Those shouldn't even exist!" Kyousuke thought in complete bewilderment, wondering how those even existed here in the first place. Gajeel kept calm as the situation became far more dangerous for the both of them.

"He ain't playing around, looks like we're gonna have to take him out." Gajeel alerted Kyousuke, the latter agreeing. His father came around and tried shooting at the both of them again, prompting the two to split up as Kyousuke went straight for his father. He managed to deck his father straight in the face, aiming to take his gun out of his hands in the process. However, his father had a better grip on it than he did, taking the weapon and jostling it right into Kyousuke's stomach, paralyzing him from the pain as he hit him with it and shoved him into the wall, knocking him down to the ground. Gajeel tried to attack by attacking his father with an Iron Dragon's Club, but that proved ineffective as his father shot his Iron Dragon's Club, somehow inflicting significant damage and forcing Gajeel to retract the Iron Dragon's Club from it. Shouting out from the pain, he held his hand in shock as he saw it covered in blood and blast wounds.

"Dammit, he can just shoot at any kind of attack and cause damage?!" Gajeel thought in shock. This wasn't just some ordinary weapon; with the right aim and precision, this attack could kill Gajeel in an instant if he wasn't careful. Kyousuke, seeing Gajeel in pain, got angry and went after his father again.

"Damn you bastard! Leave him alone!" Kyousuke shouted, going to punch him right in the stomach as his father took the gun and hit him in the face with it, knocking him down as he kicked him over to Gajeel and took him out of the picture. A slight amount of blood dripped from Kyousuke's mouth as he slowly got up from the attack that took place. He angrily looked at his father as Gajeel did the same, unable to get out of the way in time as his father already prepared to fire off another blast. This time, he had Gajeel right where he wanted him.

"Time to die, iron-studded punk." He told Gajeel, immediately firing off as Gajeel helplessly stood there. The blast was so quick that Gajeel didn't have the time to get out of the way, and knowing where the shot was headed, it would kill him with the kind of damage it would inflict. At that moment, Gajeel tried to move out as fast as he could, but it went by way too quickly for him to step even a foot out of the way. At that moment, someone got hit and took the full brunt of it as they flew back.

In that desperate moment of survival, Gajeel turned his focus to the shot-blast and saw that it didn't hit him. Kyousuke, managing to get up just in time, took the full brunt of it as he flew back past Gajeel and hit the front door. Knocked out entirely by the blast, he flew right into the front door and helplessly fell to the ground, leaving a pool of blood beneath him as he lied there unconscious. There was no response out of him, from what everyone else could see he was just a corpse at that moment.

"Oh my god, you KILLED HIM!" The mom shouted in terror, causing the father to get angrier over the situation. It just made him more desperate to kill Gajeel and end him.

"That damn punk, getting in the way. He just doesn't quit!" The father angrily shouted as he went to load another round into the shotgun, having run out of shells at that moment in time. Gajeel, however, was frozen in shock. Kyousuke was lying before him dead, and he couldn't do anything about it.

"The kid's dead..." He thought to himself in utter disbelief. There were so many emotions running through him at once, even he couldn't keep them under control. He felt like he had failed; Gajeel promised Kyousuke that he would help him and all that happened was that he got him killed. All that frustration and shock quickly turned to rage; he turned towards Kyousuke's father and sent him a violent, menacing glare. As his father went to load another shell, Gajeel quickly got up and went straight for him. "I'm gonna make you pay for that," Gajeel said darkly, heading straight for him as he equipped his Iron Dragon Scales.

At that moment, his father was too slow to stop him. He turned to Gajeel in shock as his eyes widened in disbelief, unable to save himself as Gajeel went straight for him. With all the anger he felt inside, he hit his father straight in the stomach with an Iron Dragon's Hard Fist with pure rage and ferocity. Screaming as he delivered the punch, the power behind the blow was so severe that it managed to send Kyousuke's mom flying back, hitting the counter in the living room and falling to her knees, rendered immobile. His father went flying through the house, flying through the walls in off the house and into the shop, hitting the RV and indenting it. Upon making contact, you could hear the bones in his body shattering from the force, blood flying out of his mouth. He quickly fell to the ground within seconds, unable to move as he immediately lost consciousness and passed out. With that kind of force, it was questionable whether he was alive or not. Having avenged Kyousuke, Gajeel stood there and reverted back to normal, standing there with a dark glare on his face as he clenched his fist angrily. There was so much anger behind that attack that he couldn't put it into words, the raw ferocity and damage behind the punch explained it all. Dealing with the fury behind Kyousuke's condition, he turned to Kyousuke and saw him out cold in the pool of blood that was created under him. He still believed him to be dead, knowing that even he would've died from a blast like that. In that very instant, after looking over and confirming that his mom was out of the picture, he grabbed Kyousuke and took off, running out from the back of the house and leaving it for good. If Kyousuke was going to die, he didn't need to be here of all places.

He took him and ran, ran away from the house as far as he could, at least until the house was no longer in sight. Getting away was his first priority; Kyousuke was already in such bad shape that Gajeel couldn't help him. Eventually, he came across a bridge for a highway that had a dirt passageway underneath, and Gajeel ran in there with Kyousuke for the time being. Taking him underneath the bridge, Gajeel kneeled down as he lied him on the ground. It had started to rain outside, so being under the bridge would help keep them from getting soaked and would keep Kyousuke out of the mud. Kyousuke still had the blast wounds from earlier, and it only made Gajeel angry. He clenched his fist angrily as the rain started to get heavier.

"DAMMIT!" He screamed, punching the ground angrily. Gajeel promised Kyousuke that he would help him out and now he felt like he had failed; what a massive screwup. It infuriated and upset him; how could he let this happen? He once again looked at his hand that got shot at earlier, and it was still damaged like before. Even though it hurt, he didn't care about it. Gajeel didn't show any signs of being that affected by it and was more concerned about Kyousuke. He felt remorseful over it; he started to consider Kyousuke as a friend, and it hurt to feel like he broke a promise. "I'm sorry kid. I said I would make things right and look where it got me." Gajeel said in pain. Not often he would be emotional like this, but this hit where it hurt. It was almost like life was toying with him. His anger started to subside, and he slowly became more depressed as time passed, looking at Kyousuke as it began to envelop him. He vowed to protect the ones he cared for, and he couldn't do it, it was out of his control.

However, at that moment, Kyousuke started glowing a bright blue.

"What the hell?" Gajeel questioned, his attention focused on Kyousuke as the latter was glowing brightly. At that moment, Gajeel watched as the damage on Kyousuke's body was slowly healed; it was like some kind of self-restoration magic, but it was unusual. Where was it coming from? Does Kyousuke have magic power? Is it just a supernatural force affecting him? With time passing, Gajeel watched in awe as the wounds on Kyousuke were healed, the glow slowly fading when the wounds were healed.

After the time had passed, Kyousuke opened his eyes and awoke from the unconsciousness he went in. Gajeel looked at him in shock as he slowly awoke, coming back to his senses as he sat up and put a hand on his head. He tried to remember what went down.

"What happened back there Gajeel? I can't remember anything." Kyousuke asked. Gajeel watched Kyousuke in shock, being in utter disbelief over how he just healed from that attack like it was nothing.

"He shot you. Your dad tried to take me out, and you took the full brunt of it. I thought you were dead, and so did he." Gajeel explained. Then it all came back to him, he remembered how he jumped in front of Gajeel to make sure he didn't get hit by the blast. He sat there in shock as he processed it, relaxing his arm as Gajeel went into detail. "I took him out myself, made sure he won't be coming back. You won't have to worry about him anymore." Gajeel cleared up. Upon hearing that, Kyousuke immediately jumped into Gajeel's arms, wrapping his around him and hugging him tightly. He buried his head into his shoulder as Gajeel sat there in surprise, listening as Kyousuke held onto him.

"I'm just glad you're okay. That's all I need to hear." Kyousuke said. His father being taken out was just a bonus; Gajeel was the only thing that mattered to him at this point. Having gotten this far, he was what he needed most right now. As Kyousuke held onto him, Gajeel felt a strange tingling sensation in the hand that was shot, pulling his hand up and looking at it as he saw the same phenomenon happening to him. The blast he suffered on his hand was being healed in the same way Kyousuke's was, glowing blue with the wounds slowly healing themselves. It was unusual, a good thing, but unusual. It made Gajeel further believe that it was coming from Kyousuke, but how? He had shown no magical abilities and doesn't seem to have any magic power.

"This kid, something's happening. My hand is being healed like it's nothing, just like he was." Gajeel thought to himself. It then occurred to him; what if I had to do with how he could sense Kyousuke? Regardless, Kyousuke eventually pulled himself up and out of Gajeel, slowly getting up and stretching. Gajeel looked at his hand once more, seeing how it was completely healed. He observed it; everything was back to normal like it should be. Coming to terms with it, he got up and put a hand on his hip, staring at Kyousuke over it all. "So, what's up?"

"We need to get moving," Kyousuke remarked. Gajeel looked at him surprised.

"What are you saying? We just took them out, kid."

"It's not going to end there. Even if you killed my dad, my mom wouldn't stop there. This is just the beginning for us." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel realized that Kyousuke was right; it wouldn't be this easy to get out of this mess. With that, Gajeel walked up to Kyousuke and put a hand on his right shoulder, getting up next to him as Kyousuke turned to him.

"Then let's get the hell out of here," Gajeel said with a grin, taking the lead as Kyousuke followed from behind. Kyousuke's parents were dealt with for the time being, and he was finally out of that whole mess. It was time for them to get going; this was just the start of something that was beyond their reach.


	5. Chapter 5: Deep Talk

**A/N: I uploaded a new cover photo I made with Kyousuke and Gajeel in it, so you can check that out. Otherwise, enjoy the story ;)**

 _ **Chapter 5: Deep Talk**_

With all that happened, it was time that they moved on. It all passed so quickly that the two didn't have the time to think about it and process it all. They had to get moving now, or they'd just be waiting to get into trouble; Kyousuke knew how that worked out.

The first order of business was to get the hell out of the city. Gajeel gave the two a headstart by having abandoned Kyousuke's house after it all went down, so they decided to move on from there. Kyousuke's clothes were still ripped up from the fight that took place, and Gajeel could use a new outfit for the time being, so their first order of business was to get situated. Then, they would get moving.

From where they were, there was a nearby shopping mall that had a clothes store within there, so that's where they went to get a new change of attire. It was lucky for the both of them that Kyousuke had his wallet with him, along with the cash he earned from his now abandoned part-time job. Kyousuke kept it simple; a gray t-shirt with some dark cargo-jeans, nothing too extraordinary. He wasn't one too concerned with his appearance, at least as far as now is considered. Gajeel went with a different style than he was wearing; a sleeveless gray shirt with black pants and his usual boots (outfit from the second half of Dragon Cry). With that outfit, he blended in with the crowd more, aside from his hairstyle, and with that, the two went on their trip.

"At least I won't have to worry about attracting unwanted attention for the time being," Kyousuke stated. The two started heading off, making their continued getaway. Gajeel was wondering what they were going to do about this, especially since they couldn't just stand around letting it all happen before them.

"So what's the plan?" Gajeel said, getting straight to the point.

"There really isn't a plan, we just keep moving and don't stop." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel didn't think it was a good plan, far from it.

"You ain't gonna get anywhere with that kind of thinking. They'll get to us sooner or later." Gajeel remarked, not liking the plan at hand. Kyousuke was quick to defend it.

"If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears." Kyousuke suggested. Gajeel didn't though, he just thought the idea wasn't that smart. Crossing his arms in response, Kyousuke rested his case. "I thought so."

"Shut up." Gajeel spat. He wanted to help him, but this plan of action sounded stupid. It felt like they would just be walking right into trouble, but what else could he think of. "I could give you one if I knew how this damn place worked."

"Then as you get to know how this world works, make a plan. We just need to stay out of their sight." Kyousuke explained, referring to the police force. He knew that with what went down at his house, they would be a prime target for them, so they had to be careful about how they did this. One wrong move and they could be in some deep trouble. Gajeel just kept to himself for the time being; he needed more information.

Knowing of what they needed to do, Kyousuke realized that a form of transportation would be faster for them than walking on foot. Riding in Roxanne's car proved that Gajeel wasn't affected by motion sickness in this world somehow, so that gave them an advantage. Taking that knowledge, they came across an RTD, made it down to the nearest train-station, and rode that to get out of the city fast. A 200MPH train that would travel great distances within short amounts of time was perfect for them, and it gave them some time to rest from what happened earlier.

While they were riding it, Kyousuke had passed out on the train as did Gajeel, both of them resting while it took off somewhere far. It was strange because some people stared at them from time to time, probably because of Gajeel attracting the unwanted attention. It could just be his iron studs or his long, thick hair, but he drew attention regardless. People would get on and off every now and then, but it didn't matter to Kyousuke just how far they got; if it meant getting farther away he would take it. As time went on, Gajeel eventually woke up from his sleep and looked around from where he was at; the people that were staring at him continued to stare, as much as it annoyed him. Looking around behind him, he only came into contact with more people that just kept staring at him like he was some kind of alien. It only began to annoy him, annoying him enough to call them out on it.

"If you've got a problem with me, why don't get up here and say it to my face!" Gajeel angrily retorted, immediately ending the staring as everyone that kept looking at him stopped while gasping in shock. That was enough to stop that, and for good riddance. The train was still moving, and it wasn't going to slow down anytime soon. Gajeel, having dealt with that, turned over to see that Kyousuke was still out and resting, which he was. As he watched him, someone went on the speakers annoucning info about the train station.

"We will be arriving at our next stop shortly; if you are heading east of here, you will need to depart and board another train as we will be heading back west, thank you for your patience." The girl spoke, prompting people to get ready to depart as Gajeel did the same. He woke Kyousuke up by shaking him with his shoulder, waking him up and getting his attention. Kyousuke stretched out his neck muscles before replying.

"What...are we there yet?"

"We're gonna have to get off; this train's gonna be heading back west from here." Gajeel explained. Kyousuke stretched real quick before replying, waking up from his sleep.

"We'll be able to walk from here; we should be fine for a while." Kyousuke explained. Just as he finished telling that, his stomach had growled loudly, prompting Gajeel to narrow his eyes at him as Kyousuke sighed in response to it. He just turned to Gajeel in that moment and shrugged his shoulders, hinting at where they would be going next.

When the train had finally arrived at its last destination, the two departed and went on their way. They found themselves in a large, worn-down city with lots of bustling traffic and people, not to mention lots of different places to head to. The weather being overcast just made the mood even worse, as it only felt like the worst of industrialization was being brought to the forefront. The place was dirty, people littered, and nobody cared about anything else. It was just a dead city. As the two went through the town, Gajeel couldn't help but attract attention from people staring at him like he was unorthodox or something, at least appearance wise. They would send him strange looks like he was weird or something, and as time passed it only started to make him more angry.

"The people in this place are really starting to piss me off." Gajeel said bothered, clenching his fists as he was walking with Kyousuke. Kyousuke wasn't surprised by that, especially with what people were doing, but that didn't mean that he wasn't bothered by it himself. There was nothing he could do about it.

"People really know how to make you feel unwanted." Kyousuke commented, going on as Gajeel followed. "Just try to ignore it." He added as Gajeel growled underneath his teeth. He wasn't that different, yet here people are conditioned to normality and the strangest thing gets them all excited.

Heading on, the two came across a diner/bar that they could stop by for a little while. Kyousuke had a lot saved up so this would be on him, and he needed something to eat. With that, the two headed into the diner and seated themselves, coming across a booth for the two to share. As the two sat across from one another, Kyousuke watched Gajeel as he sat there and tapped his finger on the table. He sat there with his right hand holding his head up as he tapped the table with his left hand, trying to deal with the frustration pent up inside of him from things out of his control. Seeing him like this made Kyousuke feel sorry, but he didn't know what to do about it, and that frustrated Kyousuke. Regardless, eventually a waitress came up and went about taking their order. She gave the two a couple menus and got out a notepad to get their first order.

"I'll take your drinks first, give you some time to look over the menu. What do you want?" She asked, Kyousuke going first.

"Just water." He told her as she wrote it down. She then looked to Gajeel.

"Give me a beer."

"We don't serve alcohol here." She alerted. Gajeel sent her an annoyed expression in response, changing his order then.

"Then just give me a water." He said in an irritated tone. The waitress looked at him kind of strange, like he was being hard to deal with. Seeing that, Kyousuke stepped in for Gajeel.

"Don't take it personally, it's not you." He told her, prompting her to sigh and leave the table to get their order. Kyousuke put his focus on Gajeel, seeing him turn to the window and look outside, wondering what was going on out there. It wasn't long before it started raining again, the day having periods of rain-showers on and off. Kyousuke decided to try to talk about something in order to help him out.

"Not in the mood, are you?" Kyousuke noticed, watching as Gajeel just sat there.

"Hmph." He grunted, doing nothing. Kyousuke didn't know what to do; he couldn't help his situation. He knew what it felt like to be unwanted and somewhere you didn't belong, but Gajeel was somewhere that he had never been before, in a completely different lifestyle and culture that was considered the norm. With being known as a fictional character plopped on top of it all, it just was difficult to deal with. People would either look at him like he was wrong or something, or come up throwing it in his face about how excited they were to see him. He didn't like either; he wasn't much for attention. Luckily the latter wasn't that prevalant.

"Listen..." Kyousuke said, Gajeel listening as Kyousuke tried to go on. "Uh...I don't know."

"What is it?" Gajeel questioned, putting his focus on him as Kyousuke tried to explain. Kyousuke seemed a little distressed by it.

"I hate feeling like I can't do anything about this. That's all it's ever been, just me being powerless over anything. Even though you're here, it doesn't change the fact that people suck, and I can't do anything about the way people look at you." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel was quick to reply.

"I told you, it ain't your fault. Why are you getting all upset about it?" He questioned. Gajeel looked at Kyousuke in wonder, the kind that was asking why Kyousuke was doing something he shouldn't be. Kyousuke put his hand on his head like Gajeel was doing earlier, thinking over it.

"I'm just concerned." Kyousuke sighed. He was revealing the fact that Kyousuke had a soft spot regarding him, especially after everything that had happened.

"Quit worrying about me," Gajeel put forth, surprising Kyousuke. He looked at Gajeel with wonder as he went on, "This is nothing kid, it's just annoying. Besides, you've got bigger problems to deal with." He explained. His expression then changed to that of a grin, looking at Kyousuke as he went on. "Right?"

"Yeah, you're right." Kyousuke said, giving in. There wasn't much point in trying to worry about him over this, and Kyousuke did have more significant problems to deal with. It didn't change the fact that he was still concerned however. Eventually, the waitress came back and brought them their waters, going on to take their orders as time passed.

After 45 minutes had passed, the two had finished their meals and just sat there for a little bit. It was lucky that Natsu wasn't there or Kyousuke would be given a run for his money, if he was ever to let something like that happen. Kyousuke got a ham and cheese omelet with a side of hashbrowns and silver-dollar pancakes, and Gajeel got a breakfast steak dinner with sunny-side up eggs and hashbrowns. Gajeel ate it so fast that he almost went to scarf down the untensils too, until Kyousuke stopped him. As they sat and let some of the food digest, Kyousuke remembered something that he wondered about.

"So, do you remember anything that happened before you got here?" Kyousuke questioned. Gajeel had a fast response to that.

"Don't have a clue. Ever since I got here I can't remember anything before this whole thing." Gajeel explained. That was strange to Kyousuke, why couldn't he remember anything?

"That's weird," Kyousuke noted, "It's like some kind of short-term amnesia or something. Maybe it happened when you came through the portal?"

"I don't know, but this place has something to do with it." Gajeel remarked, trying to think about it and remember again with no success. Kyousuke agreed, wondering how this could even happen in the first place. The situation might be more complicated than they could think.

"Hopefully it'll eventually come to you; it'll explain a lot." Kyousuke noted.

With that, they decided to get a move on once again. Kyousuke payed the tab and they were on their way. They continued walking down throughout the area they were in, trying to get out in some way, as much as Gajeel didn't like it. It just felt like they were walking around aimlessly waiting for something to happen, and Gajeel wanted to do something about this whole thing.

"Come on, are we just gonna walk around in circles or what?" Gajeel questioned, getting Kyousuke's attention.

"What are you talking about?"

"We ain't gonna get anywhere like this; why don't we find them and give them something to cry about?!" Gajeel questioned, packing his fists together like he was getting ready to fight someone. He was getting frustrated with the lack of progress and this "aimless-wandering", which annoyed Kyousuke because Kyousuke didn't think that was smart, nor did he know what to do about this.

"We can't go after them; the whole point is to stay out of sight!" Kyousuke argued, Gajeel listening as he narrowed his eyes slightly, "You saw that shotgun my dad had, who knows what the hell could be going on with this whole thing, anything could happen!"

"So you're just gonna run away?" Gajeel questioned sternly. Kyousuke paused for a second, the statement triggering something in him. Hearing that hurt him, and it made him want to just start arguing to try to prove himself, but with all that happened, what use was that? He just sighed in response.

"Yeah." Kyousuke said calmly, leaning up against the building they were standing next to. Gajeel widened his eyes and looked at him shocked.

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I'm serious," Kyousuke stated, having Gajeel's attention, "Everytime I would try to fight my way out of a situation, it would just end up being worse. I'd end up getting burned for it; the stakes were always against me so I turned to running instead."

"Give me a break, you really think that's gonna get you anywhere?!" Gajeel argued. Kyosuuke didn't know; he just did what he thought was the best option without really knowing if it was or not.

"I don't know."

"I didn't say I was gonna help you so you could sit around doing nothing; we need to do something about it!" Gajeel argued, frustrating Kyousuke to no end. Even though Kyousuke knew he was only trying to help, he felt like he just didn't get the situation.

"That's easy for you to say; you're an Iron Dragon Slayer! Look at me, I'm nothing!" Kyousuke argued, stopping Gajeel as he listened and went on. It instilled a feeling of shock in him; Kyousuke really felt powerless. "I am powerless; that's all I've ever been. Everytime I would try to fight I would be sent back to square one worse off than before." He explained. He put a hand over his shoulder to feel the scars that were left on his back from being tortured the last time, further getting the point across to Gajeel. "The only thing I know how to do is either just deal with it or run; fighting was never an option." Kyousuke further explained. He could feel his throat tightening as he started to get emotional over it, but Kyousuke held it back because he didn't want to be seen breaking out into tears. Gajeel could see precisely what was going on with him; Kyousuke was so shattered by his childhood circumstances that he was conditioned into being this way. He had so many oppurtunities taken from him that he just learned to live with it instead of fighting it, and so he resigned himself into being unable to do anything about it. Seeing this, Gajeel put a hand on his shoulder in order to snap him out of it, getting his attention as he spoke.

"You're wrong." Gajeel stated, catching Kyousuke's attention as he looked back at him in shock. Gajeel went on, "You choose to fight back there when you saved my life." He remarked, surprising Kyousuke. Kyousuke, being the stubborn fool he was, tried to think of ways to counter it but couldn't, standing there and listening as Gajeel further explained. He let go of Kyousuke's shoulder and put his hand up on the wall next to his head as he went on. "Don't give me that crap about not knowing how to fight; you've been doing it ever since I've been here and you know that. You're just afraid of them."

"I'm not afraid!" Kyousuke impulsively shouted. Upon shouting it, he realized that he was indeed afraid, widening his eyes in shock as he leaned back up against the wall. Gajeel smirked at him as he knew what Kyousuke was thinking, watching him cross his arms as he mulled over it. "Ugh...you know what, I am afraid, but how would I not be? You saw what was going on; who knows what the hell they're up to?"

"You're not gonna find out just sitting here, that's why I'm helping you out kid. We need to deal with this and get it over with; you're not gonna do that by just running from them." Gajeel put forth again, trying to make it loud and clear. At that point, Kyousuke finally just gave in. It was time that Kyousuke finally faced his fears and dealt with this problem once and for all. Only because they managed to get away from his house doesn't mean that it's over, and they both knew that. Gajeel was just trying to make it clear that he was there to help him solve it, and trying to get away wasn't going to do anything. Kyousuke sighed once again, picking himself up and getting back up onto his feet.

"You're right." Kyousuke admitted, putting a grin on Gajeel's face. With that, he thought it would be better to try to find out how to stop this rather than just run from it. As they managed to come to an agreement on the matter, they found themselves being approached by a group of tattered individuals, covered in rugged, worn out clothing and wearing chains and what-not.

"Oh look, what a touching moment," One of the guys said, approaching the two and surrounding them as they put their attention on them. It sounded like trouble, and they needed to do something about it.

"What the hell do you want?" Gajeel questioned them, they all surrounding him and Kyousuke as they looked at them with creepy smiles and grins. They were surrounded by a gang, and it had more than 10 members surrounding them, trying to seem intimidating to them.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, give us all your cash and stuff! We might just let you go off the hook without any real pain." They said, implying that they were going to beat them up regardless. The gang wanted to strip them of all their belongings; that's what they did since they didn't want to get a job and try working for things. The two weren't intimidated, Gajeel especially getting ready for this. Another fight to get the day going was just what he needed.

"So you're looking for a fight huh? Ah well..." He said, grinning as he clenched his fists and got ready to fight. The gang then immediately took action, heading for them to beat them up as the leader went ahead and signaled it.

"Looks like it's gonna have to be the hard way then, so long suckers." He said, hanging back as the other gang members did his dirty work. Gajeel just stood there like before and waited as two of them came up and delivered a punch straight to his face, leaving Gajeel unaffected as he just stood there and grinned. The other two gang members, having the same reaction as the guy in the gas station, started shouting in pain as they started shaking their hands rapidly.

"Holy crap, what the hell is he made of?!"

"It's like he's made of iron or something!" They shouted, the leader standing there in shock and wondering how that happened. He started to get impatient with them.

"Well what the hell are you waiting for, take them down!" He shouted, just as Gajeel got started.

"I'll give you something to cry about!" He shouted, taking them out effortlessly with two punches as they were knocked down to the ground. These ones were persistent though, they got back up and tried to fight him; these people were like toys to Gajeel. Kyousuke though wasn't left uninvolved, he found himself approached by two more gang members as they tried to take him out, Kyousuke finding himself having to fight all over again.

"Looks like my fight starts here." Kyousuke remarked, ducking as the two attempted to throw punches to his face and attacking from beneath. He elbowed one of them right in the stomach painfully, causing him to stumble backwards as the other attempted to hit him downward as Kyousuke uppercutted him right in the stomach, sending him flying off as two more came up and attempted to take Kyousuke out. This time, one of them threw a punch at him first as Kyousuke dodged it and swung at his jaw, the other attempting to knee him in the stomach as Kyousuke hopped back and spun around quickly, doing a round-house kick to the guy's face and sending him flying back into the brickwall behind them. The other two that he took out earlier came back up and went after Kyousuke again, only to be sent flying back when two guys that Gajeel took out were sent flying in their direction, hitting them and knocking them out as they flew down across the street and hit a light-pole along the way. Gajeel took the oppurtunity to take the remaining eight of them all out in a single blow by using his Iron Dragon's Roar, wanting to use something powerful right now. Using it, he took all eight of them and sent them flying down the street as he caused havoc and destruction in his wake, tearing the road and buildings apart as the eight were sent flying off and were taken out. After finishing, the street and sidewalk had been torn apart and the gang members knocked out, just as the leader stood there in shock. The two turned their focus to him as he stood there in terror, trembling in fear of what Gajeel could do as he approached him and merely grabbed his shirt and yelled at him to get lost, causing the guy to start screaming and run off in horror. That ended quickly.

With that out of the way, the two fist bumped each other, having dealt with that and having had fun in the process. They needed something like that to blow off steam, especially Gajeel. Unfortunately, it wasn't over just yet. As they stood there, Kyousuke could hear sirens from police vehicles from afar. He quickly realized that they both were in a dangerous situation.

"Crap, this is bad, we can't let them see us!" Kyousuke shouted, Gajeel listening as the two looked behind them and found a small alleyway to head down into. Knowing that the police were coming for them, and that destructive rampage of Gajeel's giving their location away, they set off running down the alleyway in order to get away from them. Luckily this city was sophisticated and had many ways to get through unoticed, so they took each route that they could find in order to get out of there. Eventually, the police arrived at their location they were previously at, witnessing all the damage that took place and everything that went down. There were three police cars in total, two officers getting out and analyzing the scene at hand. One of the officers looked around and saw what happened, but couldn't find a trace of the two they were looking for.

"They're not here sir." He confirmed, prompting the other police officer to go with another plan of action. This one was probably higher up and more in charge.

"Do what you can to find them; the one poses a threat to everyone and us." The officer stated, prompting the other police vehicles to take off and start searching for the two. The one police officer stood there as he overlooked the scene, trying to see how he would go about dealing with this. "You may think you're tough, but you're just like the rest of them. You'll be locked up in no time you monster."

With that, Kyousuke and Gajeel set out to get out of range for them to be spotted and taken in. If they were going to stop them, they needed a chance to go ahead with a plan of action. Anything could happen to them, and it was vital that they were careful about what they were doing. There was so much more to it than they realized.


	6. Chapter 6: Tough Luck

_**Chapter 6: Tough Luck**_

Attempting to put a large gap between them and the police, the two ran off immediately upon hearing the police sirens going off. The last thing they needed was to get caught up in a police chase, furthermore, get caught by them. The two ran through alleyways they found throughout the town to get away from them, and eventually, the two managed to get far enough away to where they couldn't hear the sirens going off anymore. Finding themselves on the other side of the city, Kyousuke stopped for a minute to catch his breath as Gajeel waited. With all the things that Gajeel did, he had a lot more stamina and could endure a lot more than Kyousuke could.

"We should be fine for a little while, but we can't stick around," Kyousuke said as he regained his energy. Gajeel stood there looking back at the area they were just at, wondering what they would be doing down there. He turned back to Kyousuke as the latter was getting back up on his feet, ready to get going once again. They started heading down the street for a little bit as Gajeel looked around and observed. Everything seemed reasonable again, that was until Gajeel noticed something peculiar. There was something odd that caught his eye, prompting him to stop as Kyousuke did.

"Something ain't right here."

"What is it?" Kyousuke questioned in wonder. Gajeel was quick to spot what was wrong.

"This place is dead; no one's out here. We're the only ones here kid." Gajeel explained, prompting Kyousuke to look around and confirm Gajeel's findings. That was suspicious enough as it was, and Kyousuke knew something was wrong.

"This doesn't sound good." He alerted as their suspicions were quickly confirmed. At that moment, the two turned around, looking behind them down the street as they heard loud sirens going off with police vehicles heading their way. No matter what they did, they just couldn't get away from them. Not far behind them was a chopper flying towards them at high speed, signaling danger for the two as they got a move on. They were a prime target this time.

"Surrender yourselves, you are under arrest by the United States Government, turn yourselves in and make this easy for yourselves!" They ordered from the chopper. This was a horrible situation; they needed to get the hell out of there.

"Dammit, they found us! We can't stay here!" Kyousuke shouted, grabbing Gajeel's arm and pulling him as the two started running out of there. This was dangerous for the both of them; who knew what they would do to the two of them if they were to get caught.

"How the hell did they find us here?!" Gajeel questioned in shock, just as Kyousuke tried to explain.

"I don't have a clue, but knowing them, they've got something we don't know about," Kyousuke explained. He was right to be suspicious of them; with everything that happened with his parents, who knew what kind of technology they would possess. In this kind of situation, using the streets would be asking to get caught, so they had to get creative and use the buildings to their advantage. They ran across an apartment complex with a large, green staircase that they used to run up into the apartment. Getting to the door at the top first, Kyousuke tried to open it but realized that it wouldn't work. "It's locked!" He yelled, trying to open it as the chopper was getting closer.

"Get out of the way!" Gajeel shouted, slamming the door down himself with his foot as the two ran into the complex. As they did, they stopped at a shocking site. "What the hell; no one's in here!"

"It's almost like we were set up!" Kyousuke shouted, noticing the strangeness of the situation. At that moment, Kyousuke quickly rolled out of the way as the apartment was being shot at from a machine gun on the chopper, Gajeel withstanding the bullet barrage thanks to his Iron Dragon Scales. With that, the two immediately started running out of the room, breaking open the door at the end and running down the left of the apartment corridor that was there. The chopper tried flying down to the window at the end of the hallway and blasting them through it, not getting much in as Gajeel and Kyousuke immediately turned right at the end of it. Seeing a window there, the two went straight for it.

"Get the hell over here!" Gajeel yelled, grabbing Kyousuke himself as the window was too small for them to both jump at the same time. At that moment, Gajeel leaped out of the window and shattered it, the pieces falling to the ground as he lept across the air over to the window on the next apartment complex next to them. It wasn't long before they landed right into it, rolling onto the ground in the room as Kyousuke flew out of Gajeel's hands and rolled ahead. The two quickly got up from that landing, getting ready to keep going. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kyousuke informed, their situation still being dangerous as they were shot at once again by the chopper. Managing to dodge it once again, they ran out to the door once again, finding themselves down a different corridor as they continued down it. Heading left once again, the two noticed that there was an open door that led down to a large utility shed where all the electricity to the apartment was being powered, heading straight for it as they could hopefully use it to make their getaway and get out of sight for the time being. Behind them, however, was another window, and the chopper used that to their advantage to take shots at the two, Gajeel quickly looking back and seeing it coming for them.

"Get down!" He yelled, Kyousuke listening as the chopper went ahead and fired, Kyousuke rolling out of the blast range as he got back up and continued running with Gajeel to the shed. However, upon getting back to his feet, the chopper shot him and hit him in the back of his right leg, causing him to shout out in pain as Gajeel watched him stumble out of the door too quickly for him to control. "Watch out!" Gajeel yelled, trying to grab him but being too late as Kyousuke ran stumbled across the staircase and fell over the side of it. "KYOUSUKE!" He screamed, watching as Kyousuke fell over and had no means of stopping. Seeing a rope hanging from the ceiling from where he was, he grabbed onto it to help slow him down, only ending up flying straight into the wall as it knocked him off. He fell straight to the ground and hit it with full force on his left side, feeling a giant nail pierce him straight through the side of his stomach, causing him to scream out in pain.

"AAGGGH, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Kyousuke screamed out in pain, just as Gajeel jumped down to try to help him with a sense of urgency. "OH MY GOD, IT HURTS!"

"Stand still!" Gajeel shouted, seeing the large nail having pierced straight through him and grabbing it, pulling it out himself as Kyousuke screamed in further pain. His right leg was shot, and he had a large nail go straight through him, what else was there for him to deal with? Gajeel held Kyousuke up as he stood there, breathing heavily from all the pain and stamina used up. This was perhaps the most dangerous thing Kyousuke had ever done, aside from the last time he tried to run off. As Kyousuke calmed down slightly, Gajeel held him back up and looked at him. "You gonna be okay, kid?"

"I'll be fine." Kyousuke stuttered, trying to stand up and keep walking as he stumbled and nearly fell over again, only for Gajeel to grab him and hold him back up once again. It was clear that Kyousuke couldn't keep moving on his own like this, and even if he could, he would only slow them down. Gajeel could hear the incoming police cars and chopper approaching, and so he had to move fast. He growled under his teeth in frustration; they just wouldn't leave him the hell alone. Without time to alert him, Gajeel grabbed Kyousuke and carried him out himself, running off as the danger was creeping closer to the two. He ran out of the utility center and tried taking some alleyways down the city to get out, avoiding detection by the chopper up above as he tried getting him out of there as fast as he could. Eventually, coming to a dead end in one of the alleyways, he took a left and headed back out to the street, having nowhere else to run to as he came across the middle of the road, finding himself in an area that connected to a highway that led out of the city. Seeing that, Gajeel knew that this wasn't good.

"Dammit, I'm not gonna get anywhere like this." He thought to himself in frustration, taking Kyousuke and running down the highway as fast as he could. Kyousuke was still breathing heavily, unable to do anything as Gajeel carried him and ran with him down the road. It wasn't long after Gajeel got onto the highway that the police had caught up to him, the chopper firing off a strange object towards Gajeel and hitting him with it directly. It forced him to drop Kyousuke as he got back up and tried to move to Gajeel himself, watching Gajeel roll over as he quickly got back to his feet.

"Gajeel!" Kyousuke shouted, trying to move as Gajeel got back up, realizing that his hands were tied behind his back. Trying to wriggle his hands around, he looked and saw that there were hand-cuffs on them, preventing him from doing anything.

"What the hell are these?! I can't use my magic power!" Gajeel shouted, shocking Kyousuke as he tried to get up to help Gajeel, he started slowly running to him, but soon got shot to the ground himself as he got caught with the same cuffs on him.

"Nooo!" Kyousuke shouted in fear, seeing the chopper approaching them and landing as several police cars quickly surrounded the two and boxed them in. At that moment, several police officers jumped out with pistols and shotguns, aiming them at the two as Kyousuke got up to his feet and stood there, not doing anything as Gajeel tried to fight them off.

"You two are under arrest for federal crimes, stay still, that's an order!" A loudspeaker from the chopper informed. Gajeel wasn't done just yet; the more as time passed, the more frustrated and angrier he got.

"I'm not gonna let it end like this!" He yelled angrily, trying to fight them off as the police grabbed Kyousuke and threw him up against one of the cars, restraining him as Gajeel tried going straight for him. "KYOUSUKE! Get the hell away from him!" He yelled again, throwing police officers off of him as he ran straight for him. However, several police officers jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground, Gajeel looking up from where he was angrily at the two who threw Kyousuke up against the car. Even though he couldn't move, he still tried to fight his way out somehow. "You bastards let him go!"

"Gajeel, just stop!" Kyousuke shouted, shocking Gajeel as he froze. He lied there on the ground staring at Kyousuke in shock, wondering why in the hell he would say such as thing. The police sirens were still going off as everyone stood there. Kyousuke went on. "It's over..."

"What the hell are you saying..."

"It's over! We don't have a chance at this point." Kyousuke said in distress. Gajeel continued to look at him in shock, calming down as he listened to Kyousuke go on about the situation. "At this point, trying to fight them will do nothing for us. We lost this one." He explained. Gajeel looked at him in disbelief, calming down and realizing that he was right. He gritted his teeth angrily over it all, growling underneath them once again as he dealt with it. Kyousuke went on, tears flowing out of his eyes as he went to explain. "Just go in with them; just do it! We can't fight them anymore, at least not now." Kyousuke painfully uttered, trying to hold back the pain as it just came out of him. Kyousuke was so upset; it felt like he had failed again, even when Gajeel was there with him. On top of that, Gajeel just felt like a failure in this situation, feeling put back at square one with all that happened. It made him angry; it's not what he wanted and not what he wanted for Kyousuke. With that, the police officers got off of Gajeel and grabbed him, picking him up and taking him to the nearby police vehicle as they did with Kyousuke. As they put them in separate cars, the two held eye contact with each other as they got put in and taken off, both feeling guilty for the other and feeling powerless at that. It made Gajeel angry that he couldn't do anything about it, even with how strong he was. They really got caught up in a knot this time.

"Dammit, I let this happen again! What the hell is wrong with me?!" Gajeel thought to himself angrily, feeling like he didn't do what he was supposed to. It upset him a whole lot, especially since it felt like he wasn't getting anywhere.

Far off away from the scene sat an Audi TT, the silver one that we knew of before. Roxanne happened to be watching the scene from afar where she wouldn't be picked up on, seeing Gajeel and Kyousuke getting arrested and looking on in shock. Why she was watching wasn't known, but it must've been important. With this, she knew that the two were in danger.

"This is bad, if Gajeel and Kyousuke getting arrested like this, then it means something is going on. If I don't help them out fast enough, they're as good as dead!" Roxanne told herself in a shock, reversing in her car and driving off. She had to do something; now wasn't the best time. Roxanne had to think fast and work with a plan. Otherwise, this would be game over for her and the two of them.

Leaving the scene of the crime, the two mulled over it and thought over it all as they dealt with the crap the police officers gave them while being taken. Kyousuke, most of all, felt like a failure and felt like it was his fault that Gajeel got caught up in this mess. As they drove off, he thought to himself over it, wishing that he could've done something to help Gajeel.

"I'm sorry Gajeel; you don't deserve this. This is all my fault..."

Kyousuke had been put to sleep by the police officers, as was Gajeel, and the two were taken to separate places within the same building. They could have the two of them put in the same room, and they had different uses for them.

* * *

Several hours later, Kyousuke slowly awoke and tried moving around. Everything was blurry at first, and he couldn't make out where he was. With everything slowly fading into sight, he slowly got up and looked around, trying to figure out where he was. He found himself in a prison cell by himself, oddly enough the only one in the room. That didn't surprise him though; Kyousuke was a particularly special case. Looking down at himself, he found himself covered up in an orange prison suit. Taking everything in all at once, he slowly started to regain his thought process once again as he began questioning it all.

"Where the hell am I? What am I doing here?" He questioned, slowly getting up as he looked around. Seeing it all and the realization of where he was at coming to him, it all suddenly flashed right back into his mind. The police, getting arrested, Gajeel angrily looking at him being unable to do anything, the two being taken off and battered by all the damage they took. The whole incident came right back to him, and it caused him to slightly panic.

"Gajeel!" He shouted, running up to the prison gates as he slammed into them, not doing a thing as he looked out and started hyperventilating. He looked around the room as he hyperventilated, his breathing slowly calming down as he thought over the whole thing. At that moment, he felt his hands and realized that the cuffs were still on his hands, but that was the least of his worries. He wondered where they could've taken Gajeel, but at the same time, he started to feel guilt-stricken over the entire thing. His expression quickly turned to that of depression as he moved up against the cement wall in the cell, looking down at the ground as he thought over the whole thing.

"I'm sorry." He said once again in apology to Gajeel. Kyousuke felt like he was the cause of this, and the last thing Kyousuke wanted was to see the closest friend he ever had in his life get taken away from him because of a stupid decision he made. "This is all my fault. Maybe if I weren't such a dumbass none of this would've happened." He thought to himself upsettingly. Kyousuke thought over the times that he went with Gajeel: getting him the iron, talking at the Diner, sitting with him in Roxanne's car, watching him beat people up...he didn't want to see that all go away; Gajeel was the most important thing to him right now. He knew about him before he even met him and being here with him was more than a dream come true. Kyousuke couldn't afford to lose him, especially now.

At that moment, Kyousuke looked up in surprise as he heard the door to the room open. He saw two officers coming in, clothed in green as they walked in, one with a baton and one with prison keys in his hand. They both approached Kyousuke with devious grins on their faces, Kyousuke glaring at them as they came in and took him.

"Well look what we have here, a teenage rebel who thinks he can use an iron freakshow to break out of this whole thing," The one with the keys said in a southern accent. He seemed more broad-shouldered and had a higher-level badge on; he must've been higher up and had known more about this whole thing. Kyousuke just stood there and glared at him as the guy put his hands on his hips and gave Kyousuke a questioning look. "Did you really think you would get away with it punk?"

"Honestly, yeah, I did," Kyousuke told them in a less than pleasant tone. The officer started laughing as the other behind him chuckled with him, Kyousuke staring him down nonetheless as the officer continued on.

"What a joke; not only are you a rebel without a cause, you're also pretty damn stupid!" He told Kyousuke, the latter glaring back at him annoyed. The officer got up in his face from where he was at and tried to get the point across to Kyousuke as if he was going to listen. "Well, you better listen right here kid, you should know better for a straight A student that you wouldn't have a chance against law-enforcement." He explained, unlocking Kyousuke's cell as he grabbed him and threw him out. Kyousuke did what they wanted; no point in struggling against them right now, it wasn't smart. "You're coming with us, we have something that we need you for." The officer explained, pushing Kyousuke ahead and ordering him to move as he got in front of him, the officer with the baton standing behind Kyousuke. He didn't know what they needed him for, but for whatever it was, he assumed that it had to do with Gajeel. Moving along with them, Kyousuke looked around and saw the room, being a large-steel plated corridor that led throughout the place. Kyousuke's room must've been specially made for him if he was being driven out of it like this.

"What the hell is up with this place? It's like some kind of laboratory." Kyousuke thought to himself, considering it as the officer ahead explained it further.

"You see this kid, this is our defense base, where we take extreme dangers like you and your iron-punk friend." He explained, Kyousuke questioning it as they went on.

"I don't understand how I'm a threat; Gajeel's stronger than me by ten-fold."

"So that's the punk's name, is it?" The officer said, laughing in response as he went on to insult him. "Tell him to lose the goth act; it's bad for his image."

"Goth act?" Kyousuke questioned in bafflement, what the hell? "And I'm the stupid one; they're called iron studs dumbass. You're blind if you think he's even remotely goth." He insulted, prompting the officer ahead to turn around and get in his face.

"You got something to say punk? I'll put an end to that right here."

"Then do it; I dare you." Kyousuke threatened, staring the officer down as they glared at each other angrily. Kyousuke wasn't going to tolerate him insulting Gajeel, and with being this far down the hole, this whole thing was just a game to him. As the officer stared at him temporarily, he sneered as he got back up and continued on ahead.

"You may think you're smart kid, but I know what you're doing. We'll put an end to that real quick." He stated, continued on as the officer shoved Kyousuke ahead, Kyousuke glaring back at him and moving forward. It wasn't long before the two came across a larger room that was still steel-plated with silver steel. This room was different, however; it had large windows that you could look out of that were bulletproof. They would withstand high-amounts of damage and block out sound very well unless it was a massive explosion or something. The officer behind Kyousuke took him and threw him up next to the windows, Kyousuke glaring back at him again as he put his focus on the windows and walked up to them, coming before a horrific sight.

"I thought I'd want to show you something along the way; this might be the last time you'll see the punk." The officer said, laughing afterward as Kyousuke looked through the window in utter horror. His eyes widened in shock as his heart rate shot up, being in a panic as he saw something undeniably terrifying.

"OH MY GOD, GAJEEL!" Kyousuke shouted horrified, trembling at the sight. What Kyousuke saw was Gajeel being held up by chains from the ceiling in a large room, the chains in question rendering his magic useless as he hung there in an orange prison suit covered in blood. He had blood dripping from his mouth as he had bruises all over his face, his outfit being torn up a bit as he was hanging there. There was a larger man there wearing some kind of iron gloves, probably putting out some sort of magical output to deliver damage as he took time using Gajeel as a punching bag, Gajeel having no choice but to just take it as he hung there helplessly. Gajeel was just getting beat up for what seemed like no reason at all. After a while, the man punching him stopped as Gajeel hung there, breathing heavily from the pain as blood continued to drip from his face, and he just hung there. There were bruises and cuts all over him; he was battered up like hell. There were commanding officers in the back giving the guy in the iron gloves orders on what to do with Gajeel, laughing over it as it all happened. The whole thing was just a joke to them, and they could care less about what happened. Gajeel, hanging there in pain, kept breathing heavily over it all as he managed to break out a weak grin over it all. Even if the pain was unbearable, here he was taking the pain like a champ as it all went down.

"Is that all you've got?" He taunted, prompting the officers to order the man off once again as he started to beat up Gajeel once again. Kyousuke, watching from afar, was utterly terrorized. They were beating him up, and Gajeel was forced to just sit there and take it; that's not how prison is supposed to work. Something was seriously wrong here, and the more Kyousuke was exposed to it, the more he found out just how screwed up this place actually was.

Watching it only made Kyousuke angrier. All the horror in him quickly turned to rage, quickly turning to the officer that escorted him out here and looking at him like he was going to murder him; he was beyond the point of anger.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?! YOU BASTARDS!" He screamed as the other two officers laughed right in his face. Howling with the haughtiest of laughs, the officer in charge looked at Kyousuke's rage-infused expression and looked at him like the whole thing was a joke, going on to explain the situation.

"Oh look, you're all fired up, aren't you? The punk's being tested strength-wise; how much of a punishment can he take? We're going to use him as our next military weapon."

"YOU WHAT?!" Kyousuke yelled angrily.

"You heard it punk. He's the strongest person we've got in this entire nation, and we have plans to use him as our next battle weapon. He's just what we need in case we go to war with any opposing threats." The officer explained. Kyousuke could only look at him with rage seething from his teeth; he was livid. Gajeel wasn't just some tool for them to use.

"HE'S NOT SOME KIND OF TOOL, HE'S A GOD DAMN PERSON YOU PIECE OF SHIT! LEAVE HIM THE HELL ALONE!" Kyousuke screamed enraged. The officer behind him tried to restrain him, but Kyousuke slammed himself right into him, throwing him on the ground and stomping right on his stomach, forcing the officer to cough up a bit of blood as Kyousuke stormed for the officer ahead of him, merely waiting for Kyousuke to come at him. Kyousuke attempted to tackle the officer but failed as the officer kneed him right in the chest and threw him back, walking up to Kyousuke as he stumbled back. At that moment, the officer grabbed Kyousuke and threw him up against the wall, holding him up by his neck as Kyousuke, despite being choked by him, was still seething with rage as he struggled to break free.

"You need to watch your mouth kid; you don't understand a damn thing about amassing an arsenal." The officer explained sternly, watching Kyousuke helplessly struggle as his anger broke out bit by bit. He took Kyousuke and threw him behind him, letting Kyousuke hit the wall as he fell to the ground, coughing from being choked as he looked up and saw the two officers gang up on him, the other had gotten back up. The officer in charge went on to explain the situation furthermore. "Honestly kid, we thought you were going to be our personal weapon, but now that we found this guy, you're useless to us." He explained, shocking Kyousuke as he let his rage subside just slightly over it.

"What the hell do you mean I was going to be next?!" Kyousuke questioned in shock, it quickly turned back to rage as the officer chuckled in front of him, going onto explain.

"Honestly, it's none of your business, but since you'll end up dead by the end of this whole thing, it doesn't really matter. We planned on using you as our next military weapon; explains all of the childhood restrictions, doesn't it? Now that we have the iron punk, we are going to use him instead." He explained. Kyousuke just burned with rage; the more he heard, the angrier it made him. What kind of messed up place was this?

"So you put me through all that bullcrap just because you're a power-hungry megalomanic?!"

"It's called getting stronger kid! I told you that you knew nothing about amassing an arsenal! By the time this whole thing is over, we'll wipe the iron punk's memory and turn him into a living weapon. He'll do exactly what he wants us to do and think that it was his own destiny! He'll be the most powerful living weapon to exist in the entire world!" The officer explained, laughing sadistically over it as Kyousuke was paralyzed in horror by that statement.

"Wipe his memory?!" Kyousuke thought to himself terrified. The thought was disastrous enough; everything that made Gajeel who he was would be destroyed, he would no longer be himself. Gajeel would no longer exist, it would just be his body doing what the government wants of him, and everything that Gajeel knew; his ties to people, his friends, his past, his family...it would all be gone. The idea struck a deadly nerve in Kyousuke; he was already in enough pain, and now this was the cherry on top. "Nooo...Gajeel you can't..." Kyousuke thought to himself in horror. He didn't know what to do; he was helpless, nothing could save him. It was too much for him to take, Kyousuke couldn't handle it anymore; he would rather die than live to see Gajeel be wiped away like that.

Kyousuke just sat there, looking down at the ground as he wholly paralyzed by the shocking truth. He couldn't process it; it was so awful that he just felt wrong. The rage in him was so powerful that it was out of his control; it took control of him, and Kyousuke's sanity was no longer there. All that was left was just the rage that Kyousuke felt for hurting the first one he could call his closest friend. Sitting there, Kyousuke suddenly closed his eyes as he started to laugh sadistically, the officers looking at him in wonder and amusement as Kyousuke began laughing loudly like a screw went loose. He wasn't in control of himself anymore.

"Oh look, I think the kids losing it now; it's about time." The officer stated as he chuckled, trying to look menacing as Kyousuke sat there and stopped laughing, continuing to look down at the ground as he went on.

"You're a joke, I think it's funny how you act like you have so much power over me," Kyousuke said darkly. His tone got more rough and aggressive as Kyousuke was pouring out the rage in his heart. The officer laughed and tried to counter it.

"What are you going on about over there..."

"You think you have so much power; one wrong move and you'd be dead in a second. All you are is living garbage; why don't you just die already? Maybe if you weren't so useless and pathetic, you wouldn't be stuck here dealing with some unwanted teenager like myself." Kyousuke said darkly, not moving as the officer got angry and went to hit him.

"Still moving that mouth of yours kid; I'll fix that." He said, aiming to punch Kyousuke as the unexpected happened. Out of nowhere, some kind of dark purple energy emitted from Kyousuke, flying out and killing the officer with the baton by piercing him in the heart, picking him up and tossing him off to the side like he was nothing but garbage. That immediately froze the officer in charge as his expression quickly shot to the other officer, watching him get tossed away like a doll; he was dead in an instant. The officer seeing that looked at Kyousuke in horror, trembling with fear as he could no longer move forward, paralyzed by him. He just stood there watching as Kyousuke became covered in that same purple energy, it coating his entire body. "What the hell is up with you?! What is all this?! What really are you kid?!" The officer shouted in horror, soon being pierced by the dark energy and being held up in the air by it. The officer started coughing up blood almost immediately, Kyousuke letting it slide down the dark energy as it cut through him and did more damage. The only thing that could be heard out of the guy was him blurting out painful creaks and shouts, trying to deal with it as he was helplessly held up with his life slipping away, blood dripping off of him onto the ground. It was like he fell right on top of a sword and was stabbed to death.

"Heh, now you're dead. You should've known this was gonna happen; the next time you decide to **** with Gajeel, I will make sure you suffer in hell." Kyousuke explained in his rage-infused state, dropping the guy from suspension as his life slipped away from him. The two officers were dead in an instant, and Kyousuke felt so much satisfaction from that. He started laughing like a maniac, going crazy over how good it felt to make them suffer; he went sadistic. It was like Gajeel in his Phantom Lord days, he just couldn't get enough of it, and it made him feel so good to watch them drown in their own blood.

After he stopped laughing, he suddenly sent out a massive, dark energized shockwave that flew throughout the entire building. In the room Gajeel was in, all the lights in the room burst apart and shattered, falling to pieces as everyone, except Gajeel, was killed by the dark shockwave that came in and swooped the room. All the electronics were destroyed and went haywire, prompting the fire-prevention system to kick in and the sprinklers to start going off. The dark wave also sent an overloaded surge of magical power in the chains Gajeel was held up by, shattering them as Gajeel was let loose and fell to the ground, landing with one knee on the ground. The sprinklers washed off the blood that he was covered in, Gajeel getting up as he was free to get out of the place. He didn't know exactly what happened, catching his breath as he slowly got up and held himself up in pain, being so beaten up.

"What the hell happened?!" Gajeel questioned, turning to his left and seeing all the damage and destruction. He was glad to be free of it all. He turned to his left and saw a figure covered in dark energy behind the windows over there, holding his arm as he realized who it was. "Kyousuke did this." Gajeel thought, turning and seeing Kyousuke over in the room as he stood there immersed in the dark energy. He knew something was up with him, mainly since he was able to stop all of the electronic devices in the entire base. Knowing that he grinned, seeing Kyousuke over in the room as he ran up to the bulletproof windows. Even in his battered state, he used his Iron Dragon Slayer magic to shatter them apart, taking his Iron Dragon's Sword and busting straight through it like it was nothing. It caused him a lot of pain doing that, but that didn't matter to him. He was just glad to see that Kyousuke was alright, at least physically. Struggling to get in, he saw Kyousuke standing there immersed in the dark magic. Even if he couldn't make out his typical physical features, he knew that figure anywhere. Seeing Kyousuke just standing there, he ran up to him and forcibly got his attention.

"Come on kid, snap out of it!" Gajeel yelled, grabbing his shoulders as the dark energy suddenly flew onto Gajeel's body. At that moment, it turned an electric blue just like it did before, coating Gajeel as it healed the wounds he took from being beaten up. All his bruises and cuts were healed like it was nothing; it was the strangest thing, and it happened just like after Kyousuke was shot in the stomach. The dark energy entirely left Kyousuke as it moved to Gajeel and recovered him, coming off like some kind of coated substance as it affected him severely. Upon doing so, Kyousuke suddenly felt a massive jolt of pain as he fell to the ground, holding his stomach as Gajeel watched in shock. "What the...what's happening?!"

"I don't know, I just felt this massive pain shoot right through me," Kyousuke explained. It could have something to do with the magic power that Kyousuke used at that moment, but he wasn't sure. He tried to get up and get moving, the pain slowly subsiding as he got back to his feet. He took a deep breath as he recovered from it, hearing the alarms go off and the sprinkler systems soak the two in the process. Gajeel stood there watching him as Kyousuke got up and stood normally. "I'll be fine."

"Good, cause we need to get the hell out of here," Gajeel told him while grinning. Kyousuke agreed with that; it's about time. Now it was time for them to make their escape. Getting out of here was their first priority, though the both of them had things they needed to settle with one another.


	7. Chapter 7: The Getaway

_**Chapter 7: The Getaway**_

With all that happened within such a short amount of time, Kyousuke had a hard time trying to process it all at once. He's already figured out that his situation was much more in-depth and complicated than he initially thought, especially when they were going to take Gajeel and use him as a living weapon, not to mention Kyousuke having a burst of uncontrollable power come out of him at his worst. As much as Kyousuke had a hard time trying to understand why they would do that to Gajeel and use him as a weapon, he was even more confused over the officer saying that they were initially planning to use Kyousuke himself. What was so unique about Kyousuke? Aside from the fact that he had a very traumatic and abusive upbringing, he wasn't anything out of the ordinary, or, at least it seemed that way. With that burst of dark energy that came out of Kyousuke, who knows what was up with him. Maybe there was something that Kyousuke himself wasn't even aware.

Despite all of the confusion, their first order of business was to get the hell out of this place. With all the damage that Kyousuke created from that shockwave he sent out, the security system went off, and Kyousuke and Gajeel were the prime targets within the base. The two managed to get out of the area they were initially trapped in and get at least to the room where all their stuff was confiscated in, including their clothes and what-not. Getting there was surprisingly easy; then again it wasn't expected of them to break out of such tight security so easily. Taking as little time as possible, the two ditched the prison suits and got back into their regular outfits, now ready to get moving and get the hell out of this place.

"You'd think it would be a lot harder to get here, especially for as tightly secured as this base is." Kyousuke wondered. Gajeel didn't think much of it, instead focused on getting out of here most of all.

"Who cares, let's get the hell out of here," Gajeel told him, preparing to get a move on as Kyousuke followed.

Immediately leaving the room and preparing to head out, the two ran into a large hallway that went both ways, laser equipment being hung amongst the hall as it tracked anyone who was walking in and out of the entrance. Now that the security system has gone off, the lasers immediately hunted the both of them and prepared to fire off at them, firing lasers as the two dodged them and hung close to the walls. Facing outward from exiting the room they were just in, Kyousuke followed Gajeel down the left side of the hall as they tried to find their way out. By sticking to the walls of the hallway, they managed to keep out of the laser's range most of the time, even if they had to jump back and forth from wall to wall just to do it. After navigating and avoiding being burned by the lasers, the two eventually came to another intersection within the base. With this, if they continued straight in the same direction, they would enter another hallway booby-trapped with complicated laser setups. However, if they took another left and went down this hallway, they would come across some security guards in the base and give away their location. Kyousuke didn't know what to do, so he kind of had to rely on Gajeel's instincts to get them out of here.

"We ain't getting through that anytime soon," Gajeel explained, hinting at the booby-trap ahead of them, "Looks like we're gonna have to get through them instead."

"Just be alert; who knows what kind of weird crap they've got stored for us," Kyousuke informed. Knowing that Gajeel went in and went straight for them; there were only two guards there. They both had weapons in their hands, but before they could fire them, Gajeel managed to get to them first and take them both out with a single Iron Dragon's Club, rendering them out of commission. Kyousuke followed shortly after, seeing how Gajeel quickly made easy work of them without much effort. "Well, that was easy."

"Did you really think they were gonna put up much of a fight kid?"

"Honestly, with what weird crap my dad had in store for me, I'm expecting the unexpected," Kyousuke explained, approaching one of the knocked out guards. "Though having you on my side makes it a lot easier." He further went on, Gajeel grinning in response. Kyousuke then went through the guard's pockets and what-not, Gajeel's expression soon turning to wonder as he watched Kyousuke.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting what we need," Kyousuke stated. He pulled out numerous security cards and managed to take a weapon for himself, getting up and handing Gajeel the security cards. He scrutinized the security cards with wonder as Kyousuke grabbed the shotgun that he got from the security guard and actioned it, getting ready for any kind of combat. "These passcards will help us get through some tightly locked chambers. With these, we basically have access to the entire building."

"Come on, we don't need those. I can break down those doors myself." Gajeel countered, putting his fists together as he said it. Kyousuke knew that but had other reasons for getting them.

"Can you break down every door? For the ones you can't, we've got the cards." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel understood what he meant by that, but didn't think that it would work anyways. As they prepared to get a move on again, a large sealed door in front of them suddenly opened, following in with security guards that immediately aimed at the two and prepared to fire off at them.

"Don't think we're gonna be using them anytime soon!" Gajeel alerted, preparing to fight back as Kyousuke did the same. The guards immediately fired at the two, prompting Gajeel to guard himself as he advanced towards them, hopping from wall to wall as he did so. In that fashion, he managed to approach them and take them out with an Iron Dragon's Sword that he swung around to his right, taking them all out and slamming them up against the wall. Kyousuke was ready to fire at one of them, but when he got ready, it seemed that Gajeel already took care of business. He just stood back and sighed in response. With that, the two ran out through the door that they opened, immediately coming across an elevator that led the guards to there in the first place. "A dead end huh?" Gajeel observed, watching as Kyousuke went up to the side of the elevator and came across a control panel.

"No, it's an elevator. We're probably higher up in the building." Kyousuke explained. Analyzing the panel, Gajeel came up and looked at it himself as Kyousuke clarified it all for him. "It says that we're on the third level," He pointed out, pointing at the three highlighted on the panel, "so we need to get down to the main floor if we want to get out of here."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Gajeel questioned, prompting Kyousuke to press the button that led to the main floor. The main door leading to the elevator slowly shut closed, and the two slowly moved down in the elevator. This wasn't your average hotel elevator; being a high-tech security base and all. The two had to wait a bit before they got down there. They did manage to get down there though, and the door opened to the main floor, which resembled a strangely large hallway that led to many doorways and continued on. The two slowly started to move out of the elevator, only to stop when the panel started flashing red and beeped rapidly. Kyousuke turned to it in wonder.

"What is it doing?" Kyousuke questioned in wonder, slowly becoming fearful as it slowly came to him what was really going on. Gajeel though realized it quicker, getting to Kyousuke and grabbing him by the arm.

"Dammit kid, that's a bomb! Get the hell out of there!" Gajeel yelled, grabbing Kyousuke and jumping forward out of the area as it exploded, creating a massive blast that sent the two flying out from the elevator, landing and rolling on the ground as Gajeel held onto Kyousuke. After they hit the ground, the two got up and looked to see that the elevator door automatically shut after the explosion took place, the alarm system sounding once again as a new announcement was made regarding the situation.

"THE SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED, REPEAT, THE SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY." A robotic voice announced and repeated over the loudspeakers. The two now had a new problem; forget security guards, the whole place is going to blow up on them.

"What the hell is up with this damn place; somebody's gotta be paranoid around here," Gajeel exclaimed, noting how everything was set up. With the building able to be set to auto-destruct that quickly, there must've been something that the government was hiding or was trying to keep secret. As Gajeel turned to Kyousuke, he saw him just standing there thinking. As Kyousuke thought about it more, he realized what really happened and why the bomb was set off.

"Crap, it was a trap!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"That panel must've used eye-identification; it blew up as a defense mechanism against intruders!" Kyousuke explained. In frustration, Kyousuke put his hands over his head as he got frustrated over the whole thing, feeling like he was the cause of another problem. "I should've seen this coming!"

"Come on Kid, we don't have time to worry about that," Gajeel yelled, grabbing Kyousuke again, "we gotta get the hell out of here!" He took off with Kyousuke as he managed to get going once again. Now that the entire base was going to explode, everyone in it stopped focusing on Gajeel and Kyousuke and instead started evacuating through any means necessary, more concerned about their own lives than persecuting the two. Running down the main hall, the two tried to look for any way out of the building that they could use.

"Keep a lookout for anything that has bright, flashy colors. It's probably an emergency exit." Kyousuke informed, just as Gajeel saw something of that description.

"You talking about that?" Gajeel alerted him, heading towards a small door with a yellow and black striped border around it. It was an emergency exit, and the two headed straight for it. Gajeel went straight to the door while Kyousuke went straight to the activation pad, only to get frustrated and bang his fist up against the wall.

"Dammit, it's password locked!" Kyousuke said in frustration, watching as Gajeel barged right in to do something about it.

"Get out of the way! We don't have time for cracking codes!" Gajeel shouted, aiming to destroy it as Kyousuke started to freak out.

"Wait, what are you doing?! Stop!" He shouted in shock, watching as Gajeel smashed the pass lock himself. Somehow, in a surprising turn of events, it worked to their advantage and the door leading out opened up. Seeing it work, Gajeel didn't take any time to admire it, going ahead and heading into it first as Kyousuke followed, overwhelmed by the adrenaline going through him. It was an extended ventilation system that leads down into the underground of the base, which possibly would direct them out of it. Now inside of it, the two slid down the ventilation system as it took several turns down throughout it to their destination. However as the two were sliding down the vent, suddenly one of the floor plates dropped underneath Kyousuke, following with him falling in. As Kyousuke fell through screaming, he tried to grab onto the plate in front of him, coming across a massive wall that continued downward that connected up to the ventilation system. In the short amount of time that ensued, Gajeel managed to turn around and grab his hand, preventing him from falling. In that same moment, he used a couple iron spikes that protruded out of his feet to latch into the tunnel, preventing him from sliding down and allowing him to help Kyousuke back in.

"You alright?" Gajeel questioned, Kyousuke looked up to see him looking down at him, holding him up just by his hand. Breathing heavily from the fall, Kyousuke slowly calmed down as he came back to his senses.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kyousuke informed. It took a few seconds before the two of them heard the floor plate hit the ground, signaling how far the drop really was. Hearing that, Kyousuke tried to pull himself back into the vent as Gajeel helped. "I don't feel like dying today."

"I didn't think so," Gajeel stated, pulling him up and getting him back into the tunnel. "You need to watch yourself, you almost got yourself killed."

"If that floorplate didn't break off I would be just fine," Kyousuke explained calmly. Ignoring it, Gajeel retracted the spikes from his feet, letting himself slide down the vent as Kyousuke slid down right behind him. Continuously going straight for a little bit, the two eventually came across a floorplate with ventilation holes in it, the two breaking through it and falling to the floor as they landed on their feet. The two after landing immediately scanned their surroundings, observing where they were. However, there was a peculiar sight that instantly got their attention. "Some kind of portal?"

"Looks like they've got it set up as an exit," Gajeel explained, acknowledging another yellow and black striped border with the portal built inside of it. The two slowly approached the entrance and observed it, unsure of whether or not they should head inside.

"Well...if that's the case, then hopefully we can trust that they have this portal under control somehow," Kyousuke explained.

"You don't know that for sure," Gajeel added, Kyousuke taking a deep breath as he thought about it. Gajeel was right, but in this situation, time wasn't a luxury they had.

"You may be right, but we don't have much of an option. I say we head for it," Kyousuke explained as Gajeel affirmed it.

"Alright, but if anything happens to us, I'm blaming you for it," Gajeel stated as Kyousuke just nodded in response. With that, the two prepared to head into the portal, Gajeel stepping in first with his right foot. At that moment, Kyousuke grabbed onto Gajeel's arm with the idea that they won't get split up, also stepping into the portal as the two continued on. Within seconds of entering it, the two suddenly vaporized into thin air, disappearing from the area as it took them in. In that time, they managed to get out at least ten seconds before the base they were just in self-destruct. The process was quick and short-lived, the building exploding as destruction took over the entire building, wiping everything out within seconds. The portal the two just went in was also destroyed, rendering it useless and unfixable as the base quickly became nothing but a massive pile of rubble. As far as anyone was concerned, that was the end of that, and for good riddance. If there were any critical information anyone needed to save, they would be too late as it was wiped out with the building's destruction.

Within the time it took for the two to get through the portal, it eventually opened in some sizeable dense forest that resided near a city. In a few seconds, the two came flying out of the entrance, taking a rough landing as the portal quickly disappeared after they exited. Getting up from having landed, the two turned to look behind them as the portal they came out of was nowhere to be seen. All that was in front of them now was a vast, dense forest full of trees and grass. As strange as it was though, Kyousuke couldn't care about it. Seeing a tree next to him, he got up and walked over to it, sitting down against it as Gajeel got up and approached him, standing and watching him as Kyousuke lied up against the tree and stared at him.

"Ever since you got here my life has been a rollercoaster," Kyousuke explained, watching as Gajeel sat down against the tree next to him. Kyousuke expected him to make some sarcastic remark about him sitting down and was a bit surprised when he didn't, but he just let it be. "Now you're just as caught up in it as I am."

"Yeah," Gajeel said. He didn't have much to say about it really; it was just bound to happen with what Gajeel wanted to do. Helping Kyousuke out of his situation was going to make him a target as well, but that was just a risk he had to take if he wanted to help Kyousuke out. At that moment, having been delivered by the portal to some forest outside of where they were at, the two lied against the trees and passed out, resting while they had the chance. They needed a break, or, at least Kyousuke did. With time now being a luxury once again, the two took advantage of it and rested.

* * *

Meanwhile, working behind the scenes was a familiar face that the two have met up with before. This one found herself in a large building that was dedicated to underground secret agencies that would meet up for trading deals. You had to have exclusive access to just get into the building and even then, you have to have even more to get into specific locations within the structure, such as being a higher up of a secret organization or such. However, despite her being or having none of these, she was smart enough to maneuver her way around these, she was smart enough to break into these locations undetected, maybe even with a little bit of help on the side.

Walking into the central area of the building, she found herself headed to a specific location where a particular meeting was going to take place.

"This should be easy; all I have to do is get into this meeting. Everything is falling into place," Roxanne told herself, moving along through the building. Having infiltrated the building herself, she wore a business suit and attire with black shades, concealing her identity and wearing a black-haired wig on top of it. Roxanne went through a lot to get through this; the real question is why? Moving along, she came across a large desk with another woman working it. This one, in particular, checked for individuals that would pass on through, confirming their identity and letting them in and out. Seeing Roxanne approach the desk, the woman went ahead and asked her for information as she continued typing on a computer screen.

"Credentials?" The woman asked in a strict tone.

"Susan Renegade, codename: Stryker R of the Project X team," Roxanne explained, using a different identity. The woman went ahead and entered her details, confirming her and handing her a set of files about the meeting that she is heading to.

"You are free to continue Ms. Renegade." The woman told her, prompting Roxanne to move on ahead. Coming across a large door past the left side of the desk the woman was working at, Roxanne had to use an eye-scanner to once again confirm her identity before she could be allowed in. Getting up close to the retina scanner, she grabbed her shades and pressed a button on her glasses, one that fired a red-light laser into the retina scanner. This somehow jammed the retina scanner in her favor, providing her access inside as it opened for her and let her in. With that, Roxanne went ahead inside and found herself in a large hallway surrounded by metal walls and doors leading to various rooms, the door behind her closing almost immediately after she entered.

"Nobody's going to realize that these glasses give me full access to almost anywhere; so much for retina scanners right?" She told herself cunningly, moving on ahead as she went to find the room that the meeting was taking place in. Moving on forward, there happened to be a particular room that had a specific meeting that was taking place. A large group of men sat at a large table discussing important matters, one of which pertained to the incident that Kyousuke and Gajeel were involved in with the killing of the former's father.

"With the data that we have gathered, we can conclude that these two individuals are significant to the process of Project X, this one in particular." A large man in black stated in a deep, gruff tone, pointing to a frozen screenshot of Kyousuke in his house, one being displayed on a large screen in front of all the members. It seemed that the house was full of hidden cameras that monitored Kyousuke on a constant basis, explaining how they got this information in the first place. "As you can see here, Kyousuke Watanabe is the main subject matter of this project."

"Excuse me sir, but what about the other one? He's the one that killed his father in the first place; I suspect that he would be quite the threat to Project X." An older woman asked the man, picking out Gajeel in the frozen snapshot. Understanding her point, the man continued on.

"The other one is someone who we have identified as Gajeel Redfox. From what we have gathered, we can easily claim that he is the real threat in this case; if we don't stop him, Project X is guaranteed to fail." The male in charge of the meeting explained. With the frozen snapshot of the two, it was moved to the side as another set of images took place on the right side of the screen. It was a frontal portrait, a side shot, and a 3D render of Gajeel that rotated slowly around him. With this, the one in charge went onto explain. "The concerning thing about Gajeel Redfox is that he is not in any of our government databases and we have no data regarding him, with the expectation that he is a copyrighted character that belongs to a TV show, or as some would describe, an Anime/Manga series called Fairy Tail."

"Excuse me," another male interrupted, going on with his question, "Are you telling us that this Gajeel Redfox is fictional? I don't understand why we should be concerned if he isn't real sir."

"He 'was' fictional." The one in charge clarified. "The reasons for it are unknown, but it is clear that Gajeel Redfox is anything but fictional, despite initially being made out to be a fictional character. The video footage proves it." The one in charge further clarified. With that, he zoomed back in on the frozen snapshot and repeated a section of the video that took place, showing an angled view of Gajeel killing Kyousuke's father with his Iron Dragon's Hard Fist, whether it was intentional or not. Leaving the section on repeat, the one in charge went onto explain as the other members of the meeting took notes about the situation. "As you can see, Gajeel Redfox is very clearly a dangerous threat and already has broken government law by murder. He is to not be underestimated under any circumstances, is that clear?" He explained.

"Yes sir," Everyone else acknowledged. With that, the one in charge went on further to explain.

"From what we have gathered, he has inhumane abilities that allow him to transform his physical body and harden it, giving it metallic properties. From the research that we have conducted, this is called 'Iron Dragon Slaying Magic.' It gives the user the ability to transform any body part into an iron component of their desire and allows for them to, 'slay dragons.'" The one in charge explained. With that, the other members almost started laughing, some chuckling while trying to keep it under control. In this day and age, the idea seemed almost comical and even childish, but this wasn't just a story anymore. "It seems inconceivable and ludicrous, but it is, in fact, a reality, as here in the video footage, he was able to kill an average human with a single punch. Granted, the human in question did have a smoking addiction and a weakened immune system from lung damage. Regardless, Gajeel Redfox is a highly dangerous individual; do not take him lightly or he will kill you like he did this one."

"Sir, if he is so dangerous, how should we go about eliminating him?" The older woman asked, prompting the guy to explain.

"Of course, we have been working on the development of a unique weapon that utilizes a special type of energy that he is vulnerable against. This energy has been classified as Radiative Particles, the video clearly showing how Gajeel was affected by a shotgun blast containing the particles." The guy explained, reversing the video and show Gajeel reacting to getting shot in hand with the magic shotgun. It seemed that the entire scene was caught on footage, giving further reason to believe that there was something bad going on if Kyousuke being greeted with a shotgun by his own father wasn't even getting across to them, or if they cared. "The weapon in question is capable of firing a massive blast of charged Radiative Particles that directly target the nervous system of the opponent, overflowing them with the particles and paralyzing them, rendering them immobile. Of course, this was tested on an average human without any special abilities. In this case, actual usage may differ." The one in charge explained.

With that, he turned behind him and pressed a button that caused something to suspend down from the ceiling, supposedly the weapon in question. As it slowly came down, the one in charge went onto explain the gun itself.

"The weapon is currently codenamed the Hyper Ray and is still a conceptual weapon. Further design elements are being made to fix flaws and ensure efficiency and power of the weapon." The guy explained, the weapon slowly coming down and coming to a stop. Surprisingly, everyone stared at it in confusion, wondering what was so unique about it in the first place.

"Uh, sir, so the weapon is a grenade?" Someone asked, prompting the one in charge to stare back at the weapon. His expression quickly turned to shock, realizing that something was wrong.

"Wait a minute, that's not the weapon!" He shouted, the grenade suddenly exploding as the entire room was suddenly covered with a vast amount of smoke. The members started coughing as the smoke covered the whole room, the one in charge coughing as well as Roxanne popped out of the ceiling from where the weapon suspended. How she got up, there was beyond them, but let's just say she managed to figure out how to get around with the ventilation systems built in. She landed on the table where the weapon was supposed to be and went ahead to grab the hard drive that was hooked up to the screen, the one which contained the data of Kyousuke and Gajeel's incident.

"Thanks for the info and the gun; I'll be taking this for myself," Roxanne said, stashing the hard drive away as she suddenly did something unexpected. Out of nowhere, she managed to conjure a giant glove that fit on her right hand, almost like a requip. The glove was called the BX-3000, and Roxanne immediately put it to use by punching straight into the ground, sending out a massive shockwave that sends everyone flying into the walls. They were helpless to stop her as she went ahead and got going, running out of the room and taking the weapon and the hard drive with her. Recovering from the smoke grenade that Roxanne detonated, the one in charge tried to get something done about it.

"We can't let her get away with this! Signal the alarms!" He shouted, trying to get towards one of the alarm switches as he coughed from the smoke. Meanwhile, Roxanne, now having the data and weapon that she needed, made her getaway. With the alarm system going off not long after she left the room, Roxanne came to the door that she initially entered in the first place, blasting it open with the BX-3000 and running out the door. The woman working at the table jumped fearfully as Roxanne ducked out of sight, avoiding the debris flying about as Roxanne ran out. Having gotten what she needed, she ran straight out of the building's main entrance, heading straight for one of the elevators at the end of the other side and taking it out of the central area. Riding it up to the top, it eventually opened and revealed a couple secret agents waiting for her, prompting her to immediately attack with the BX-3000 and send them flying out of the way.

"I better be careful; I can only use it so much, or I'll just drain all my power," Roxanne stated to herself, getting rid of the glove as she immediately started running. Heading out of the elevator, she found herself in a large parking garage with a bunch of parked vehicles. Running down for a little bit, Roxanne came across her Audi TT and got into it, quickly getting it started and driving off with all her newly acquired items. The agents were unable to stop her now; she was long gone and now that she had what she needed; she could ditch her disguise and avoid being caught entirely. No one would think that Roxanne Laurel was responsible for invading the base; they only know that it was Susan Reneage. She took the car out of the parking lot, heading right out of her parking space and driving down, quickly turning left and heading down the next parking lot. Roxanne then took a quick right and sped down the central area of the garage, drifting left out of the parking garage as Roxanne found herself on the streets again, quickly driving off and leaving the area as Roxanne went on. Now a safe distance away from the building, she took off her shades and ditched the wig, immediately pulling out her cell phone as she called someone in particular.

"Hey, I finished my mission. You got what you were supposed to?" Roxanne questioned the one she called, who apparently did as Roxanne smiled in response to it. "Good, let's meet up. I think we just got one step closer to figuring out what's really going on here." Roxanne explained, driving off with her new findings. With that, she got one step closer to figuring out the real deal behind everything that was happening, and she could help Kyousuke out of his situation. It's always good to have someone helping you out of trouble, even if you have no idea.


	8. Chapter 8: Knowing What Matters

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay; I have been dealing with some hardships at the moment and haven't had as much time to write fanfictions. I am trying to continue this story; here's chapter 8 for everyone to see. Enjoy :)**

 ** _Chapter 8: Knowing What Matters_**

Lost in some sort of black space, Kyousuke found himself drifting through an endless void of darkness. He was aimlessly wandering without any forethought, unable to piece together exactly what was happening until suddenly his surrounds changed. He became immersed in the sky with Roxanne standing across from him on a cliff not too far away from him, Kyousuke somehow standing in the air just staring at her. She held her arms up to her chest and kept one hand on one wrist, closing her eyes to herself as Kyousuke stood there in wonder. At that moment, Roxanne suddenly looked up and looked to Kyousuke, catching his attention as he just stared at her.

"We've always been here for you..." Roxanne said, holding her hands to herself still as Kyousuke tried to reach out. As he tried getting closer to her, she moved further away, distancing herself from him as she stood on the cliff with a sad expression on her face. Kyousuke tried reaching out and running to her, unable to get to her as she continued going farther and farther away from him.

"Wait, come back!" Kyousuke shouted to no avail, "I'm sorry!"

"What are you sorry for; you never wanted her in the first place," Kyousuke said to himself from afar, surprising Kyousuke as he suddenly found himself in a dark prison cell. The entire room was battered and worn out, and it was the place Kyousuke was taken to when he was whipped for an attempted runaway sometime ago. Kyousuke, hearing such, turned around in shock to find himself face to face with himself.

"Huh?" He said in confusion, prompting his other self to explain.

"The only person you were ever sorry for was yourself for being so pathetic."

"That's not true, and you know it!" Kyousuke lashed out in anger, only to amuse his other self.

"You do know it; you've always pitied yourself for being the weakling you are. It was the only reason you could come up with for being exposed to this kind of treatment."The other Kyousuke explained to himself, prompting him to stand there in bafflement. He didn't want to believe it, falling to his knees in shock as he unwillingly felt as if it was somehow correct. He always felt worthless and weak all these years, and he didn't want to believe it. As it went through his head more and more, it made him angrier and angrier.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW?! WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" Kyousuke screamed, only causing his other self to laugh at him. Suddenly, his other self-turned into his school principal, the space around him turning into complete darkness as Kyousuke stood there and watched in shock.

"Don't lie to yourself; you know it's true. You can't run away from it forever; you don't have a future Kyousuke Watanabe, and you will never have one for your sake!" She shouted at him. Kyousuke curled into himself under the influence as it continued to get worse, multiple people appearing around him yelling at him to go away, telling him how worthless and useless he is, how nobody cares about him, everything that hurt him on the inside. Suddenly Kyousuke found himself as his child self again, around 12 years of age, and still was curled up in a ball. He just sat there, being exposed to all the hatred and social rejection that everyone forced onto him. He couldn't handle it anymore; he just wanted to run away.

"Leave me alone!" Kyousuke shouted, crying to himself. The pain became worse, and everyone's screams and rage became worse. He could even hear Roxanne going on about how she should've never tried to trust him in the first place.

"How could I ever trust someone like you? You're hopeless; you should just get lost and don't talk to me." Roxanne scorned as Kyousuke still held himself in a ball. As the hatred and intolerance grew stronger, so did Kyousuke's pain and rejection.

"Go away! Leave me alone; I don't like this!" Kyousuke shouted to them as it went on and on. He continued to painfully cry as he held himself there, clutching onto himself tighter and tighter. "Why is everyone like this to me?! What did I do?! What's wrong with me?! I just want a friend; why can't he be here with me?!" Kyousuke explained, going on, "It's not fair; everyone hates me, and he's only fictional. I wish I could run away from here, where the hell is you?!" Kyousuke angrily shouted as everyone still surrounded him. It was everything he didn't want and nothing he wanted. He just cried harder in response, unable to do anything about it. "Maybe I don't even deserve him,"

"Who the hell told you that?" Gajeel said, standing behind him as the crowd disappeared. Kyousuke, hearing his voice, still in his child form, looked up in shock. His heart-rate sped up, and he was in utter disbelief. Turning around though presented something much different. When he became to see him, Kyousuke came face to face not with just Gajeel, but him being impaled in the stomach from behind with this strange blue magic, much like the magic that healed him from the shotgun blast. Gajeel stood there grinning in pain as blood dripped from his teeth, giving Kyousuke a confident smirk as Kyousuke sat there staring at him in utter horror. Kyousuke was trembling with fear and disturbance as he couldn't handle what he was seeing. Gajeel, bleeding out from it all, started bleeding out more as the blue magic pulled itself out of him, prompting Gajeel to fall over as a pool of blood formed beneath him, somehow with him still grinning in the process. Kyousuke stood up and ran to him in terror.

"NOOOOO!" Kyousuke screamed, running over to Gajeel as the magic started floating in front of Kyousuke like some sort of virus, flailing its blue tentacles all over the place.

"BREAK ME OUT OF THIS NOW! I WILL KILL EVERYONE; YOU WILL BE THE FIRST!" The magic screamed in a distorted voice, Kyousuke standing back and staring at it in utter terror. He was paralyzed with fear, unable to move as the magic floated around and prepared to attack Kyousuke. Gajeel, dying from the attack, looked up to Kyousuke and gave him a severe look.

"Don't let it take control of you, kid! You have to survive!" Gajeel yelled to Kyousuke, who still stood there in fear. Within that moment, the magic attacked and flew straight for Kyousuke, taking advantage of his predicament and went in for the kill.

* * *

"OH MY GOD, GET AWAY!" Kyousuke screamed out viscerally, waking Gajeel up and sending him into a shock. Gajeel turned from the tree he was resting at to Kyousuke, who was screaming uncontrollably, like some kind of panic attack. The whole thing was just a dream, and Kyousuke woke up in complete terror. However, Gajeel noticed that there was some of his magic crawling around his throat, it immediately having gone back into him when Kyousuke woke up.

"What the hell's going on?!" Gajeel shouted in shock as Kyousuke just sat there screaming. He turned to Gajeel in a panic and grabbed his arms, crying out as Gajeel stood there in shock, unable to understand what was happening.

"PLEASE YOU HAVE TO HELP ME; it was going to kill me; it had already killed you, and I didn't know what to do, I need help!"

"Get a grip kid, what the hell is going on with you?!" Gajeel yelled as Kyousuke grabbed onto his wrists tightly, breaking down into tears as he kneeled to the ground and cried out. He just sat there crying into him as Gajeel stood there in bafflement; what was going on with Kyousuke? Unsure of what to do, he just stood there as Kyousuke broke down in front of him, muttering on about how everyone hated him and how he thought Gajeel died and what not. Kyousuke continued to hyperventilate as he went on.

"You were bleeding and on the ground, and I thought you were gone, and it was going to kill me and..." Kyousuke stuttered in a panic. His speech was all broken, and he was terrified; he couldn't even control himself. Eventually, Gajeel got down and grabbed Kyousuke by the shoulders, putting some sense into him as Kyousuke snapped out of it.

"Control yourself kid," Gajeel said, calming Kyousuke down as he stared him straight in the eyes. His stare was so intense it pulled Kyousuke in easily. "It was just a damn dream. We ain't dead yet kid, calm down. You don't have to get so worked up alright?" Gajeel explained, getting Kyousuke to calm down as Kyousuke just stared at him. Within seconds, Kyousuke wrapped his arms around Gajeel and held him close. Gajeel just stared at Kyousuke for a minute, watching as he hugged him tightly, only to pull Kyousuke in himself to comfort him. It was the least he could do, at least right now.

In time, Kyousuke managed to calm back down and regain his senses, coming to terms with reality once again. Gajeel lied him back up against the tree as he relaxed, thinking through the dream he just had and how it impacted him. Gajeel just sat down next to him and stared; he didn't understand what the hell Kyousuke just went through and felt compelled to know why.

"What the hell was that all about?" Gajeel questioned in wonder, staring at Kyousuke with a perplexed expression as he just sat there in shock.

"It's coming after me,"

"What the hell's coming after you? Kid, you start screaming and panicking and then say a bunch of crazy crap; what the hell is going on?" Gajeel further questioned. Kyousuke didn't know how to explain it but felt like Gajeel deserved an explanation with everything that has happened. Before going into detail, Kyousuke sighed in response.

"I have these nightmares that never go away."

"Nightmares?" Gajeel questioned, going on, "What kind of nightmares are that bad?"

"I've had similar nightmares for years Gajeel; this has been going on my entire life. Dreams of this blue creature trying to kill me and going on about being trapped and restrained in some way. I don't even know why." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel raised a brow in response, hands on his knees as he sat and stared at Kyousuke. Kyousuke went on, "They feel more real than reality, and it's always about people close to me leaving me or dying in some tragic way. Every time I wake up I feel like I have to escape and run away." Kyousuke explained. Gajeel, listening in, understood what Kyousuke was dealing with but didn't get why that blue creature thing was there. At that moment, he realized that the blue creature could be the magic that he was exposed to earlier; the spell that healed them in the first place and when Kyousuke flew into a rage in the base they were taken to. He could pick out bits and pieces but couldn't connect them. He wasn't able to figure out what it exactly was though, and so he decided to just leave it at that. Gajeel also decided to not tell Kyousuke about the magic he experienced from him earlier; it would probably confuse him and make him lose focus of what they need to be focusing on.

"Listen, kid, they're just nightmares." Gajeel calmly reassured, getting Kyousuke's attention as he went on. "I don't know what the hell they're all about, but we've got other things to worry about. We're not gonna get anywhere sitting around thinking about it." Gajeel explained, reaching a hand out to Kyousuke as he looked up to Gajeel in surprise. Even if Gajeel couldn't solve all of Kyousuke's problems, he recognized what Kyousuke was dealing with and was willing to at least help get him through this screwed up situation, and that was something Kyousuke truly appreciated. Seeing his hand, Kyousuke grabbed it, and Gajeel pulled him up, getting him back on his feet as they decided to start getting a move on again.

"Right," Kyousuke stated calmly, trying to focus on what they had to deal with next rather than the dream. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "So then, what's up next?"

"We're gonna head back and end this whole thing," Gajeel explained, preparing to move forward and get moving once again. However, Kyousuke had a severe problem with that. Upon hearing it, Kyousuke stood there in shock and refused to follow along.

"What, no! We can't go back there!" Kyousuke shouted, prompting Gajeel to turn back to him and look at him confused.

"Why not? They're gonna find us again one way or another." Gajeel argued, Kyousuke still refusing to follow his lead.

"The last time we were there we almost died; I'm not going back there!" Kyousuke refused. With all that went down, he was fearful of returning. It wasn't fair for him to have to go back there and put his friend in danger. Gajeel though didn't agree.

"Come on Kyousuke, what do you expect? They gonna come after us either way; if we're just standing around we're going to get nowhere!"

"We don't stand a chance against them! They were going to turn you into a biological weapon Gajeel, don't you get it?!"

"Yeah, so what? You really think I care what they plan to do to me; it's not gonna happen kid so get over it!" Gajeel questioned nonchalantly. It didn't matter to him what they planned to do with him, he wasn't going to let them do it regardless. Kyousuke, however, felt like that wasn't an option.

"The only reason they didn't do it to you is because I stopped them! They were treating you like a punching bag; you couldn't even do anything!" Kyousuke argued, unintentionally provoking Gajeel and causing him to snap.

"Listen, kid, the only reason you're here right now is because of me, don't you forget that! Look at yourself; all you want to do is sit and whine over how hard it is! Why don't you quit complaining for once?!" Gajeel angrily yelled in response, in turn provoking Kyousuke as the two started to fight.

"Why the hell are you being so stupid?! I can't do anything; I don't have Iron Dragon Slaying Magic if you couldn't tell, can't you see that?! Maybe people would actually respect you more if you stopped treating them like crap for once; excuse me for actually giving a shit about you!"

"You act like you're the only one who's got problems; you really think I don't understand what it's like?! Grow the hell up kid! What the hell are you gonna do just sitting around moping, huh?!"

"I'm not a damn kid, alright?!: Kyousuke angrily shouted, turning around and crossing his arms. He wasn't going to go and was already hurt by what happened. "I'M NOT GOING, that's final!"

Gajeel just crossed his arms in response and sent him a disappointed glare. Kyousuke refused to turn around and look at him; he couldn't right now. With that, Gajeel shook his head and prepared to take off. "You know what Kyousuke? I would've turned around and run off back in my Phantom Lord days, but things have changed. You need to wake up to that." Gajeel explained one last time before taking off. With that, Gajeel walked off and headed somewhere else; he couldn't handle just sitting around and needed to be doing something while being stranded on earth. Kyousuke, on the other hand, let him go off and stood there with his arms crossed. Eventually, he just sat down and thought over the whole thing while still being angry over it.

Within time, at least 15 minutes had passed, and Kyousuke was still upset over the whole thing. He had sat and thought it over; it hurt him to have Gajeel say those things, but he felt like he was right on some level. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew that it was the truth; with all that he had been through he was conditioned to think that everything was hopeless. It made him feel weak; he started to cry again.

"Why can't I just have a normal life?!" Kyousuke asked himself painfully, tears pouring down from his face. "I just want to have friends I can keep for once!" Kyousuke shouted, getting up and angrily stomping the ground. He couldn't take it anymore; the whole thing was driving him insane. Within a matter of seconds he turned to the tree he was lying on earlier and started beating it up, punching it as hard as he could out of pure anger and frustration. "I HATE MY LIFE! I hate it; why can't people just LEAVE ME ALONE?!" Kyousuke angrily yelled as he continued punching the tree. Eventually, he hit it as hard as he could one last time and stopped, his knuckles bleeding from the impact as he stood there and cried uncontrollably. _"I just want to have friends like him..."_ He thought to himself painfully. He remembered all the incidents and scenarios that he was in with Gajeel, including the school trips, talking at his house, riding with Roxanne, running away and walking all over town, the time he ate breakfast with him; he felt like he had a real friend for once. "I need him! I can't let him leave me; he's all I have right now!" Kyousuke cried out as he thought about him even more. He could trust Gajeel more than anyone; Gajeel was willing to help Kyousuke out of this situation and also promised that he would. Kyousuke could confide in him like no one else, and he couldn't bear to let that get away from him. Being stranded in the vast forest, Kyousuke immediately turned around and ran straight for Gajeel, trying to find him no matter how far Gajeel went off. "Wait for me Gajeel, please! IM SORRY; DON'T LEAVE ME!" Kyousuke yelled out, running straight after him as fast as he could. He had to get to him before he got any farther; he didn't want to lose him.

Meanwhile, far ahead in the forest off somewhere, Gajeel continued walking further away from where they were. As he continued on, he thought about the whole thing between him and Kyousuke; he couldn't get it off of his mind.

 _"That kid...he really doesn't get it."_ Gajeel thought to himself. In his head, he thought about the times he interacted with Kyousuke, remembering how Kyousuke always was stuck in these unusual situations and how his parents treated him like shit. It was the only reason he chose to help him in the first place; seeing someone who was an outcast like him made him feel compelled to do it, which even surprised him on some level. He then remembered what Kyousuke said when they escaped his parent's house, and he had thought Kyousuke died.

"I'm just glad you're okay, that's all I need to hear." He remembered him saying. Suddenly, he stopped moving and just stood there thinking about it, clenching his fists over the whole thing. He knew that Kyousuke cared for him a lot and it showed, and Gajeel couldn't help but start getting attached too. He wanted to help him out in the first place, and over time they connected over little things, so even if Gajeel didn't want to, he wouldn't be able to stop it this time.

"I don't get it; why's that kid like me so much? Doesn't he know that I'm not the type to be admired?" Gajeel questioned. He was a very dark person, and even in his past he was much worse, but there was always that dark desire to really fight someone and put them through hell. Even then, that somehow didn't phase Kyousuke, probably because he had already been through it himself. He couldn't just leave him behind; part of him wasn't planning to anyways, but he got pissed off. Regardless, he turned around and started heading back. "Dammit, well I better go back and get him." Gajeel sighed to himself, heading back as he went after Kyousuke.

At that moment, as Kyousuke was running throughout the forest, he suddenly stopped and slowed down for a little. He stayed in a spot elsewhere and looked around, trying to find Gajeel but being unable to. Looking everywhere around him, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Crap, I need to find him elsewhere!" Kyousuke said to himself, preparing to take off. However, that stopped when Kyousuke suddenly got hit with something in the arm. Slowing down, he turned to see that his arm was hit with some kind of dart, slowly losing his ability to move it as his arm quickly went numb. _"What the hell, a tranquilizer dart?!"_ Kyousuke thought to himself in shock, trying to move his arm but being unable to. At that moment, he turned around and saw something he wished he didn't have to see and started to realize the kind of danger he really was in. Gajeel, slowly heading back to Kyousuke's location, suddenly heard something out-loud that got his attention.

"GAJEEL! HELP! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He heard from a distance, echoing throughout the forest. Within a matter of seconds, Gajeel instantly realized that Kyousuke was in some serious trouble and started running after him, knowing where he was based on where he yelled.

"Crap, he's in danger!" Gajeel realized, running after him as he went straight for him. Back where Kyousuke was, he tried to struggle to get away, being surrounded by black agents with business suits and a black van that they took here in the first place. Kyousuke, being held down by one of them, struggled as they announced their business.

"You're a persistent one, aren't you? This time you won't be getting away; there are government matters that you have to deal with." One of the agents explained, holding Kyousuke down. Within a matter of seconds, Kyousuke pushed himself up and forced the agent off of him, tackling him to the ground as Kyousuke got up and tried to run away with the paralyzed arm. However, that quickly failed as the other agent injected another dark into Kyousuke that put him to sleep, causing Kyousuke to collapse to the ground and pass out. "Nice try, but you're done for this time." The agent said, grabbing Kyousuke and help the other agent out as they threw him into the back of the van. Within a matter of seconds, they got in the truck and proceeded to head out, being close to a nearby city and heading that way. Unknown to them, however, as they drove off, Gajeel managed to catch up in time and followed them out of the forest, staying on their tail as they drove away with Kyousuke inside.

"You ain't getting away on my watch!" Gajeel yelled, immediately attacking with his Iron Dragon's Club and hitting the van. He managed to damage the back door of the truck and rip it off, sending it flying onto the road. The agents driving up ahead realized that he was on their tail.

"It's the Iron Dragon Slayer!"

"Forget him; we can deal with him later. We have what he need right now." The agent in charge explained. With that, they drove off and hit the gas, taking off too fast for Gajeel to keep up. Coming up on a city intersection, the van took a hard left and disappeared from sight, the last thing Gajeel seeing was Kyousuke passed out in the back, just lying there on the floor of the van. Gajeel eventually slowed down and stopped chasing, unable to get close to enough to them anyways. Seeing Kyousuke being hauled off like that pissed him off, and the fact that he couldn't even get to him was even worse. Everyone around that happened to be in the streets stared at Gajeel as he got pissed over the whole thing.

"DAMMIT!" Gajeel screamed, in a fit of rage attacking a nearby fire hydrant, bursting it and causing water to fly out and about uncontrollably. People started shouting and running in a panic as the fire hydrant burst, Gajeel getting a little wet but unbothered by it. He clenched his fists angrily as he stood there, having enough of this bullcrap. "I've had enough of this. They're not gonna get away from me this time."


	9. Chapter 9: Victoria Flandin

**_Chapter 9: Victoria Flandin_**

After having lost Kyousuke again, Gajeel decided to go search for him himself. He ran down the same path the van that took Kyousuke away went down, hoping to find some lead that way. The people in the city started to avoid him and didn't approach him, but that didn't matter to Gajeel because he had only one thing on his mind: saving Kyousuke. Heading down the path, Gajeel took that left turn on the city streets and came face to face with the vast scope of the city. It was all structured in blocks and was much less beautiful or visually appealing than back in Earthland. It was all worn down and much less clean; dirty with people littering everywhere and unable to clean after themselves. Honestly, it was kind of gross to him that it was even this bad. Despite that, seeing how large the whole town was, Gajeel started to realize just how difficult tracking Kyousuke down was going to be.

"Damn...this place is huge, how the hell am I gonna find him here?" Gajeel muttered to himself in observance, walking along and continuing down the sidewalk. Seeing the busy street traffic, the people crossing by, the massive buildings and places; it was so different from what he was used to. Industrialization was further along in its evolution here than back in Earthland, and it was just weird to Gajeel. He had already seen some of it with Kyousuke earlier, but this place was different. It was one of those busy cities like in New York. People were everywhere, doing something whether that be on their phones or riding taxis or what-not. Being so mesmerized by everything that was going on, he took a minute to look around and realized that he was unintentionally getting attention from people. As he continued down the streets, people stared at him like he was some kind of alien. It was the same kind of attention he got with Kyousuke earlier, but it still bothered him. He could hear people gossiping about him like he wasn't even there.

"Don't these people have anything better to do?" Gajeel wondered in annoyance. They just kept talking, and it got worse. Some people started shouting at him, telling him to get out and go away.

"Nobody wants you here!"

"Get out of here monster!"

"He shouldn't be here, he doesn't belong!" People went on and on. The more Gajeel was exposed to it, the more it pissed him off. He was trying to go about his business without getting too engaged in it; Kyousuke's condition was far more important to him. That didn't stop him from getting further frustrated though.

" _Man, these people are starting to piss me off_." Gajeel thought to himself once again. At that moment, someone screamed at him and attempted to pick a fight with him right off the bat.

"Get the hell out of here you murderer!" An older guy shouted, taking a rock and chucking it at Gajeel. He, anticipating the rock approach, managed to grab the rock in mid-air, turning to the guy that threw it at him. The guy suddenly started to get fearful as Gajeel gave him an angry glare, crushing the rock that was thrown at him into fine dust before going after him.

"You've got a problem with me punk?" Gajeel threatened adversely, the other guy taking a couple of steps back as Gajeel started to approach the guy out of anger. However, Gajeel suddenly stopped upon seeing a child watching the whole thing. The child was probably around under ten years of age, giving Gajeel an innocent look. It wasn't precisely fearful but wonderous, and if the child was afraid it was because of everyone else around her. In that second, Gajeel stopped and closed his eyes for a second, preparing to turn back around and be on his way. He didn't think it was worth getting into, especially in front of a child that shouldn't have to see it. "Forget it, why don't you get lost?" Gajeel told the guy, shooing him away as he prepared to take off. However, the guy suddenly chuckled in response, going after Gajeel and preparing to pick a fight with him from behind. The little girl watching suddenly became fearful as her mother closed her eyes from it all, the guy preparing to take out Gajeel from behind

"Too scared to fight us?!" The guy taunted, preparing to hit him in the back of the head. However, Gajeel saw this coming and turned around at the right moment, punching the guy right in the gut and completely immobilizing the guy. The force of the punch was so intense that the guy couldn't do anything in response, coughing up a little blood as he took the impact from his iron fists. Gajeel grabbed him afterward by the shirt and held him up, getting in the guy's face and yelling at him.

"What are you, deaf?! I told ya to get lost!" Gajeel yelled at the guy, unable to do anything in turn. However, the situation got worse as people started shouting and booing Gajeel, telling him to get out of here and all. People started shouting angrily and started mocking him; it was like a massive riot against Gajeel, and he had no clue why. It wasn't long before Gajeel realized that everyone here was against him and that things weren't working in his favor, prompting him to start heading off. "Pathetic; I don't have time to waste dealing with you losers, get the hell out of my way!" Gajeel commented in frustration, throwing the guy behind him and taking off, heading away as people continued to boo him out of the streets. No one there seemed to appreciate or respect him, and Gajeel had no idea why. He was even accused of being a murderer, and yet it didn't cross his mind how that also came to be. It was the strangest thing; what did he do? Unable to figure out why he just put it aside and went on with his initial goal. Continuing on down the road with his hands in his pockets, he soon saw a black van parked up ahead with someone being dropped off at a bar. The guy being dropped off was covered in a black business suit and was headed inside. Gajeel, at that moment, observed the van as it took off and realized that it was the same van that he had damaged earlier; one of the doors was missing yet he couldn't see Kyousuke inside from where he was at. Seeing that was enough to get him moving, heading straight for the guy in the bar and heading inside.

" _This one better have some answers_." Gajeel thought to himself, entering the bar. It wasn't anything he hadn't dealt with before; people keeping to themselves drinking beer or conversing in their own groups and what-not. Gajeel immediately saw the guy that came out of the van heading to the bathroom areas and decided to head straight for him. There probably was some kind of room where the manager's office was, as expected. As he did though, he suddenly was stopped by someone sitting at one of the tables.

"Who do you think you are walking into there like that bub? I don't think you have the right to come into this place." One of the guys said with a southern accent. He was bigger and had a lot of facial hair, same as the other guys at the tables. They all gave Gajeel sinister smirks like Gajeel was some kind of chump or something.

"Huh? You have something to say to me?" Gajeel questioned in wonder, prompting the guy to go on.

"We don't allow murderers in our bar, so you can get the hell out if you want to stay alive." The guy said, everyone else chuckling in response. The attention was all on Gajeel, but it didn't bother him. He didn't see the guy as a threat, or anyone in the place for that matter.

"I don't remember asking for permission dirtbag, so why don't you keep your mouth shut?" Gajeel bickered in response, continuing on regardless. As he tried to pass them, the guy that tried initiating the conversation went on and grabbed Gajeel's arm, squeezing it hard and holding him back as he went on to take him down.

"You had your chance chump, now I'm gonna kick your ass!" The guy said, getting up and preparing to pull Gajeel towards him to deck him in the face. However, his plan failed miserably as Gajeel was able to overpower him easily, grabbing the guy himself and throwing him to the ground in front of him. At that same moment, he plowed the guy across the floor with his Iron Dragon's club, instantly knocking him out and putting an end to that fight. Just in a matter of seconds, he had caused massive destruction to the place.

"You better watch your mouth when talking to me; I didn't come here to listen to a bunch of old scumbags," Gajeel explained. This, in turn, provoked everyone to get up and head straight for Gajeel, all preparing to take Gajeel out as he stood there unamused. Everyone had a grudge against him for being some kind of "murderer" and was ready to take him out. Seeing what he was getting into, Gajeel popped his knuckles in amusement as he planned to take them all on. "This should be interesting; let's see what a bunch of losers can do in a bar like this," Gajeel explained, entertaining himself as he took them all on. There was nothing more exciting to him than this, and right now he could use a good fight.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kyousuke was still passed out in the van. He wouldn't be awake for at least a few hours, and that was enough time for them to get Kyousuke out of range so that Gajeel couldn't get to him, at least in his current situation. They just left him in the van floor. Driving along, one of the agents got on radio contact with another agent back at the location they were headed to, preparing to go into detail about the situation.

"Agent XG231, what is your current status?" They requested, XG231 going on to explain.

"We have the suspect Kyousuke Watanabe immobilized and are currently delivering him to our next destination. We should be there in about an hour." He explained.

"Good work. What is the status report on Gajeel Redfox?"

"He wasn't spotted at the site; we chose to take Kyousuke and disregard him for the time being. He won't be very effective against us regardless."

"Understood. Make sure Kyousuke is under control when brought here; we need to resume Project DSP as soon as we can." The main agent explained. With that, the radio call was ended, and the agent continued along driving with Kyousuke in the back still passed out. He felt that informing them about Gajeel's damage to the van was unnecessary and wouldn't be considered as important as this. With the plans that they had in store for Kyousuke, Gajeel would be in their hands soon enough.

* * *

Back at the bar, Gajeel had managed to take out everyone in the bar. The entire room was destroyed, bits and pieces of wood from tables and chairs all over the floor. People were knocked out or bleeding and covered in bruises from Gajeel's rampage; he even threw some people straight out of the bar himself. Though he had a good time getting that stress off of him, it wasn't much of a fight when everyone was an average human, and he was an Iron Dragon Slayer.

"Hmph, pathetic. They've got a lot to learn about picking fights; I barely used any of my magic power." Gajeel said, referring to everyone he just beat up. With all the destruction taking place having finally calmed down, the agent that went into the building initially came back out and tried sneaking his way out of the building. He seemed to have been terrified already, but it could also be the destruction that just took place. Witnessing the destruction, he felt a need to avoid it, so he tried leaving as quietly as possible. However, Gajeel saw him and realized who it was, taking matters into his own hands and getting straight to business. Before the agent had a chance to get out of the place, Gajeel went straight to him and grabbed him by the shirt, forcefully throwing him up against the wall as the agent was startled by it all. "Listen punk; you better tell me where they took Kyousuke or I'm gonna make you beg for mercy!" Gajeel threatened, staring him down angrily as the agent, initially startled, almost chuckled in response to Gajeel's threat.

"Don't take me for a joke; this isn't the first time this has happened to me." The agent expressed in amusement. Since that wasn't enough, Gajeel summoned a Kunai and put it up to the guy's neck, putting the agent under pressure as Gajeel continued to stare him down with a menacing glare.

"You better start talking if you wanna stay alive chump! I want answers, so spit it out!" Gajeel threatened once again, the agent under pressure still having the audacity to further taunt him.

"So you're going to kill me? I'm not your first victim, am I?" The agent pressed. Gajeel, ignoring what he said, put the kunai on his neck and slit open part of his throat, prompting the guy to immediately spit it out as his life was in danger. "Alright, alright; don't kill me please!" He shouted, prompting Gajeel to stop for a moment as he went on, "They're taking him up to the Rocky Mountain pass; a government facility is located there, and they plan to keep him there." The guy explained. Gajeel wasn't satisfied.

"That ain't all, is it? What are they gonna do to him?!" Gajeel pressed again, prompting the guy to explain further.

"I don't know anything else, just don't kill me! It's part of a project named DSP; I don't know anything else." The agent explained fearfully. Gajeel still wasn't satisfied with that answer; he threatened to do more damage to the agent as he wanted more answers.

" _Project DSP huh?_ " Gajeel thought to himself, wondering what that was. Seeing that the guy didn't seem to have any answers, he kept pressing on anyway. "Oh that's too bad; I ain't done with you yet. If you wanna stay alive, you're gonna tell me how the hell I'm supposed to get there! Spit it out, or I will kill you." Gajeel threatened once again, the agent unable to do anything as a result. As Gajeel continued to press the agent for more answers, he was met with a surprising turn of events.

"Don't waste your time sir. Redfox; you won't get anywhere getting information out of one of their footmen." A woman with a heavy French accent said out of the blue. Gajeel's attention was suddenly shifted from the agent to a taller woman coming out of the area back behind the bar. She probably went out of the manager's office; what she was doing in there was unknown.

"Who the hell are you?" Gajeel questioned in wonder. The woman looked at Gajeel with a calm expression, similar to his own but less aggressive looking. She turned and looked around the bar and saw what Gajeel had done, observing the area as she didn't seem too surprised by it. She was clothed in a long-maroon colored dress with a maroon coat; covered in maroon fur surrounding the outside of it. She had short, brown hair in a bob cut and green eyes. The woman seemed to have this elegant flair, almost pretentious in a way.

"Look at the damage you've done; you indeed live up to your reputation Mr. Gajeel Redfox." She explained once again, surprising Gajeel. The agent he was holding up against the wall didn't move a single muscle as this went down.

"How the hell do you know my name?" Gajeel questioned in surprise, prompting the lady to go on.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." She explained, pulling her right hand past her hair and proceeding to go on. "I know what you need; they're probably taking your friend up to a private security base where they perform various experiments."

"What the hell are you saying? You know where he's headed?" Gajeel questioned with a slightly hopeful tone, trying to get information out of her. However, she proceeded to move along, being the mystery she was for the time being.

"Follow me; I can help you get there. I'm not here to fight you, so if you choose, I can help you get there faster than you will get from the info a useless lower-level agent gives you." She further explained, proceeding to walk out of the bar, Gajeel staring at her as she moved along. Even though Gajeel didn't know if she could trust her, he knew that she had useful information that he could use to get to Kyousuke. Knowing that, he decided to follow her; he slammed the agent into the wall headfirst and knocked him out, proceeding to follow her out of the bar. Within a few minutes, the two got into a black limousine that she owned, taking off and driving throughout the city in the limo. Gajeel sat there and continuously eyed her for the time, wondering who she was as he also turned to see outside the window from time to time. It was quite a luxurious limousine with red leather seats and a black interior, something that fit someone with as much flair as she had. As the limo drove along, the woman poured out two glasses of champagne for them to drink, taking a glass and offering it to Gajeel.

"Champagne?" She offered, Gajeel seeing it and taking the glass willingly. With that, the two made a sip of champagne before setting it down in the cupholders in the middle of the limousine. With that, the lady proceeded to go on with something Gajeel would be interested in hearing. "I know you have a lot of questions for me Gajeel, so let's get those cleared out of the way first. Then I can tell you what you really need to hear." She told him, prompting Gajeel to go ahead and ask.

"Alright then, lady, who are you and how the hell do you know my name? Gajeel questioned right off the bat. The lady chuckled a bit before responding.

"I should've known you would've wanted to know that; quite the skeptical one." She pointed out, taking another sip of champagne before going on. "If you must know, I am Victoria Flandin; the CEO of a large corporation that involves themselves in top-secret government missions."

"So then, you're with the government?" Gajeel questioned as she went on.

"Not exactly; we are a certified government branch, but we operate on our own terms. You see, we are involved in top secret security missions that help prevent government corruption." She explained. Gajeel just sat back and listened, taking it all in as she went on. "The only reason I know about you is that you're involved in a high-security government project just by being here."

"Huh?" Gajeel questioned, being taken by astonishment by all of this, "What are you getting at?"

"You being here puts you in a tight position Gajeel. The government knows about you; therefore I know about you."

"So that's how everyone else knows about me?"

"Not entirely, but for the most part, yes. You see, there's a lot of things that we haven't been able to uncover, such as how you managed to get here in the first place. The only reason people know who you are, aside from being involved in the Fairy Tail Manga/Anime publication, is that you murdered the father of Kyousuke Watanabe." Victoria further explained. Gajeel suddenly remembered that incident, and it all made sense to him; the brutal attack to Kyousuke's father by Gajeel's Iron Dragon's Hard Fist must've been powerful enough to kill him. Everything made sense now, why everyone was calling him a murderer and the societal rejection he suddenly faced out of the blue.

"How the hell did everyone find out about that?"

"Kyousuke's father was part of secret government operation; they took the opportunity to exploit you as a threat and turn the public against you. It's all over mass media; your murder of his father is broadcasted all over the country, so everyone knows who you are and what you did." She went on, taking another sip of champagne. Gajeel was taken-aback by all of this; that wasn't too long ago, and yet it is a world-wide publication already. Everybody knows about, and Gajeel had no clue the entire time; that's what happens when you get transported to a world with further advancement in the technological department. "Honestly, I couldn't care less about the murder you committed; that particular project is the root of the government corruption we are dealing with right now."

"Sounds like the kid was part of something important, you wanna tell me what that's all about?" Gajeel commented, prompting Victoria to go into further detail.

"He was; I'm pretty sure he must've told you something about it." Victoria assumed, prompting Gajeel to explain.

"Yeah, he said something about being tied down by a government contract. I didn't have a clue what was going on until we got arrested for running away from the damn place. Some crazy crap about turning me into some kind of biological weapon or something." Gajeel explained. Victoria widened her eyes a little bit in response to that information but soon calmed down as she realized the predicament they were really in.

"It seems like it has gotten much worse than we could've hoped for."

"What are you saying?" Gajeel questioned, prompting her to explain.

"Kyousuke Watanabe is involved in a very top secret project called Project DSP. It's a government project that was initiated many years ago since the time he was only six years old around 12 years ago." She explained. "I don't know all of the concrete details, and at the time I didn't have the authority to access that information, so all I can say is that the reason for his difficult childhood circumstances and the government surveillance is linked to that project."

"Why the hell is he even involved in it anyway? He shouldn't have to have dealt with it in the first place." Gajeel questioned, prompting her to explain.

"There was something about him that peaked their interest. As I said, I don't know the details; the only thing I can conjure is that he and you might share the same origins." She explained. Gajeel widened his eyes in shock to that response; they have the same origins?

"The hell; are you saying we were from the same world?!" Gajeel questioned in shock, prompting her to nod in confirmation as she went on.

"That's the only reason I have so far that would intrigue them so much. It's also why you are probably so involved in it as well; you being a Dragon Slayer and having your abilities puts you in a tight position. They see you as a super-weapon of sorts, and now that you're here they are trying to take you for themselves." Victoria further explained. It all made sense to Gajeel; even though he didn't have the concrete details, he knew more about it to understand why this was all coming together as it was.

"My magic power is my own, no one else's. I ain't gonna let them take from me." Gajeel further clarified, prompting Victoria to pull out a laptop computer as she proceeded to do research on it.

"Exactly; that's why I am here to help." She stated. Within a matter of seconds, she pulled up a map on the screen and showed it to Gajeel, giving him a rundown of what he needed to do to get there. "Alright, we are currently located in City Central; you'll have to follow your way out of the city onto I-26, which exits out of town onto a large mountain pass. This will lead you directly into the Rocky Mountains and will take you directly to the government base. The unusual thing about this highway is that it diverges onto I-74 and continues on from there; the part that stays on I-26 is sealed off from public access. All you have to do is drive through there, and it'll take you straight to where you need to go." Victoria explained all in one fell swoop. Gajeel understood all of it except for one thing.

"Great plan, but how the hell am I supposed to get there? I'm not gonna get there fast enough on foot." He questioned, prompting her to smirk in response.

"An excellent question Gajeel." She said, closing the laptop as she had already planned this out for him. The limo was almost at their destination, prompting her to give him the details he would need to get there. "I don't know what kind of driving experience you have had back in the world you came from, but you better be ready because it'll be the fastest and most undercover way for you to get there."

"Driving experience? What are you talking about?"

"I'll get you set up in one of our high-performance racing machines; you'll get there in no time." She explained. With that, the limousine arrived, and they were ready to head in. This was when Gajeel was going to be tested on how much he's adapted to this world; let's see how well he can drive.


	10. Chapter 10: Iron Dragon Street Racer

**_Chapter 10: Iron Dragon Street Racer_**

Their destination was a large, dusty old shop, caught in a deserted area. The area only looked bleak and empty thanks to the overcast coming in to top it off. It was large enough to store an entire garage of cars inside, but even then it could be used for many other things. The outside was built out of steel with a large, steel garage door that opened if necessary, found out in a deserted area past the city area. Driving directly out of the shop would take you straight into the city, which worked perfectly since that would be the direction that needed to be taken to get to the government base where experiments were being held.

Having arrived at their destination, both Gajeel and Victoria proceeded to exit the vehicle, Gajeel following Victoria as she led the way.

"This way Gajeel; you will be interested to see what we have in store for you here." She explained with a smirk. Gajeel pondered over what she meant; apparently, he was going to do something related to driving. He had a hard time putting some of the stuff he was told together; the most confusing thing being the possibility that Kyousuke could be from his own world. Ordinary humans did live in Earthland, but why would the government have any interest in them? The more Gajeel thought about it, the more he realized just how accurate it might be. Remembering the strange magic energy that would randomly exit Kyousuke from time to time was only proof; was that his magic power?

 _"Let me get this straight; this kid's supposed to be from my world, and somehow I got lost in this damn place with him in it. The kid's clearly got magic power; it came out and affected the both of us. I just don't get why he can't even recognize it."_ Gajeel thought to himself about it. It was confusing; if Kyousuke did have magic power, how come he couldn't even use it? He doesn't even know that he has it; is it even magic power then? It didn't make any sense at all; if it were magical power, Kyousuke surely would've been able to utilize it by now and at least be aware of it. Out of the most dangerous situations, it comes out and saves Kyousuke when it needs to but other than that it's virtually useless. _"For now, I gotta worry about getting there in the first place. We can sort this crap out then."_ Gajeel thought to himself, putting it all aside as he followed Victoria into the shop.

Victoria, heading into the shop, brought Gajeel straight to the area where he would need to be. The entire shop only had a few lights in specific areas, so others weren't well lit enough to see. It was a large shop with a sort of upside-down T structure, and there wasn't much in it so one could assume it was just used for storage. Heading straightforward, there was a section with three high-performance cars just sitting there, uncovered and ready to drive at any moment.

"These are our high-performance vehicles; choose wisely. You'll be using one of these to get there." She explained. Gajeel was surprised by what he saw; three high-performance cars that he could choose between. The only thing he's had experience with is a magic mobile, but these are entirely different. As surprising as it was, Gajeel was utterly dumbfounded by the idea.

"How the hell am I supposed to drive one of these?! I don't know if you have been paying attention, but we don't have these where I come from!" Gajeel snapped, prompting Victoria to chuckle in amusement as she responded.

"Don't get so worked up Gajeel; you won't have much trouble getting used to these. You're an Iron Dragon Slayer, right? They're all machines; once you get behind the wheel you'll realize just how invigorating it is!" Victoria said, almost getting chills at the thought of it. Gajeel gave her a disgruntled look but soon shook his head in response as he started to choose.

"Alright fine; they better get me there faster."

"Oh, they will, trust me. You will not be disappointed." Victoria reassured. Observing the vehicles, Gajeel noticed three of them that were all different, but most likely around the same power range. There was a Porsche 959, a Shelby GT500, and a Lamborghini Gallardo. The only car that really seemed to stand out to him was the GT500, and with that, he approached it and took a look at it. It was black with red racing stripes, and it seemed to be the most aggressive looking car in the lot. As he went and approached it, Victoria followed and went on ahead to explain the details.

"I see you're interested in the Shelby GT500. Interesting choice."

"Huh?" Gajeel said in confusion, prompting her to explain.

"Get in the car, I'll explain the details." Victoria requested, prompting Gajeel to get in as she got in the passenger's seat. For someone like her, she seemed to know more about these than one would assume. Sitting inside the car, Gajeel observed everything in it as Victoria went on to explain it all. "Alright, this version of the GT500 is the Super Snake, so you'll have more power at your disposal. The right pedal is the gas, the middle one is the brake, and the one on the left is the clutch." She explained, Gajeel taking note of it as he observed the pedals. She then pointed to the shifter in the middle console, describing how it worked as she imitated an H-Pattern shifter without actually touching it. "This is your shifter; every time you see your tachometer," she explained, pointing to it, "hit the redline, or as we call it, the optimal shift point, you'll want to shift gears by letting off of the gas pedal and holding down the clutch with your left foot; do not hold it down with your right foot. Always brake with you're right foot when you let off the gas; we don't have time to go into the details of left-foot braking." She explained. As she went into detail on how to operate the vehicle, Gajeel took notes and imitated some of the actions so he could get used to how the car worked.

Eventually, after a good 10-15 minutes, she had finished explaining all the details on how to drive the car, or at least the basics. With Gajeel knowing how to at least operate the vehicle, she went into detail on how to get there. She activated the built-in touchscreen and brought up a map on the screen with an integrated GPS system.

"This is how you'll get there; built in is a Global Positioning System that will guide you to your destination. Just follow the map on screen by following the line to your goal; there's also an international illegal street race taking place, so that will help. We'd normally put a stop to those things, but we can use it to our advantage this time around. Anything else you will need will be on this touchscreen platform; I will stay in contact with you just in case you need any support." She explained as Gajeel understood. Before she could finalize it though; there was something that Gajeel couldn't figure out.

"I don't get why you're so eager to help me out lady; what's the deal?" Gajeel questioned, prompting Victoria to explain.

"Obviously, in ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't need you at all. However, with everything that's going on; you're the best person for the job. I can count on you to finish this successfully; you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." Victoria clarified as Gajeel understood. With that, she finalized the whole thing and gave Gajeel the go to go on with it; about to get out and let him take off. Before she did though, she said one last thing. "I'll be having you meet up with one of my agents as you race uphill, so don't be surprised. I'll guide you along the way as things will get tricky very quickly." She explained, finalizing the explanation as she got out of the car. Understanding everything that she relieved to him, Gajeel sat in the car and watched as she left, her turning around quickly and winking before taking off. Gajeel, unsure of how to respond or take that, just ignored it and went on. With that, Gajeel understood precisely what he was to do, and he had a basic understanding of how to operate the vehicle. It would be a lot less complicated with an automatic transmission, but there weren't a lot of cars with an automatic transmission in that power range.

"Alright, well here goes," Gajeel said to himself, preparing to get moving. With that, he started the car and let it run for a few. Hearing the engine just idling, Gajeel quickly understood what she meant by a racing machine. The engine purred in its idle, and he hadn't even revved the engine enough to really hear it roar. With that, he slowly engaged into first gear and drove out of the area, moving straight in-front of the garage as he sat there and waited. Within a few seconds, Victoria had connected with her through the touch screen and went on to confirm her connection.

"Gajeel, can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"Good. It's time to get going; are you ready?" She asked. Gajeel gripped the steering wheel and got ready to handle the machine, putting a grin on his face in response.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He said, ready to go. With that, Victoria confirmed the whole thing and let the garage door open, it slowly opening upward as it revealed the gravel trail that led them to the shop in the first place. With it finally opening, Gajeel slowly proceeded out of the garage, making his way out of the area onto the city streets. Victoria gave strict orders on how to handle this.

"I want you to take it slowly until you hit the city streets. Then, follow the map coordinates and support your way out of the streets. You will have to dodge traffic as you drive; eventually, you'll get caught up in the international race that's taking place, and you'll be able to drive without so many distractions." Victoria explained as Gajeel affirmed it. Just driving it out of the shop was easy, at least he could handle it that well. Driving it reminded him of the time he rode in Roxanne's car and watched how she handled it. It wasn't long before he managed to pull out onto the city streets, instantly taking a right on the streets and preparing to take off. With that, Gajeel hammered the gas and took off, immediately feeling the raw power of the engine as it instantly took off. It felt so unreal to him; it was so much power being put out, and he could get straight to 60 mph in less than four seconds. In a vehicle with 750 BHP, he could undoubtedly feel the monstrosity of the engine, and it was intense. It was almost like the kind of rush that he got while fighting people, just with the intensity of the driving experience; and that's what he craved.

 _"This is crazy; I can feel the car's power running through my veins!"_ Gajeel thought to himself in shock, unexpecting such an experience. As he quickly approached the city, he took a hard left into the city streets, turning a little hard in the process as the car easily oversteered. Surprisingly enough, with as little experience as he had, he was able to instantly feel the car's tires losing grip and was able to correct it, keeping his car in line as he stayed on the right side of the road. It was easier to dodge traffic when it wasn't coming at him so quickly, and he took advantage of that. Even in that moment of hitting that turn, the g-force from the steering at such high speeds felt so exciting; he was experiencing the rush of racing cars. _"I've never felt anything like it; I only thought you could get this kind of rush by kicking someone's ass, but it looks like I was wrong."_ Gajeel further thought to himself. The engine's power coursed through his body as he hit the gas pedal; it was so exhilarating. As he was driving, Victoria chimed in really quick to give him some driving updates.

"You're doing great so far; make sure to keep the car under control and drive as fast as you can!" She reminded him, Gajeel easily keeping it under control as he drove throughout the city, dodging traffic and watching out for pedestrians. Luckily, traffic wasn't too dense around this time of day, so Gajeel had the advantage.

"You didn't tell me that it was gonna be this intense lady; you should've told me sooner!" Gajeel expressed ecstatically, something he felt in this kind of situation. Victoria chuckled at the thought.

"Oh, but that would've spoiled the fun; you see I like to make things interesting." She responded with Gajeel keeping focused on the road. He took a few more turns throughout the city, a left, a couple right turns, and another left before getting far enough ahead to make a sharp right turn onto the main interstate: I-26. As he got onto I-26, Victoria was notified of such and gave him further instructions. "Good, you made it onto I-26, all you have to do right now is keep dodging traffic and drive as fast as you can. Once you get up to the mountain passes, your driving skills are going to be tested, so be ready!" She further explained.

"Got it," Gajeel told her. Driving started feeling more natural to him; he was getting used to shifting and racing on the highway would allow him to tweak it a bit without having to worry about approaching corners. It was a shock how fast he was adapting to this sort of thing. However, things took a different turn not too long since then. Suddenly he started hearing sirens go off, turning around and realizing that a few police cars were chasing him, along with some other racers racing lower-powered cars like the Mazda RX-7 FD3S and the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Things supposedly just got a lot more difficult. "Hey lady, it looks like the cops decided to join in on the fun!"

"Good lord; I should've known they would be here," Victoria said with disgust. "What do you expect when you decide to let an international race go on? Alright, listen here; you've got a secret electronic weapons system stored in your vehicle. You can use these to help get them off your tail if things get too close for comfort, BUT only use them when necessary! You don't have an infinite ammo supply." Victoria explained, engaging the touchscreen in the GT500 and bringing up a weapon's menu, catching his attention as he was driving. There were four different weapons; Spike Strips, EMPs, Jammers, and Pulse Bombs. As Gajeel was driving and dodging traffic, pulling out of the city and onto the main stretch of the highway, going at about 150 MPH, observed the weapons shown on screen. He already was pulling away from the other racers and police cars.

"Alright lady, you wanna explain what the hell these are?"

"The Spike Strip is what it is, a strip of spikes that's deployed from the rear end of your car. It'll burst any tires of any vehicle that runs over it, but you've got to time it just right so that they don't dodge it. EMPs are Electro-Magnetic Pulses; you can aim them at driving cars ahead, and it'll fire an EMP blast that will damage the vehicle ahead. Jammers are used to disable electronic devices of vehicles around you, and that's it." Victoria explained as Gajeel understood. Racing down I-26 as fast as he was, the cop cars currently on the road weren't able to catch up to him; they were just Ford Crown Victoria's after all. This wasn't a problem in the least.

"Looks like they won't be catching up anytime soon," Gajeel informed as he kept driving.

"That's good, but keep a watch for anything; you never know what may happen," Victoria informed. With that, Gajeel just kept driving down I-26 as fast as he could, following the highway out and heading straight down as he went for the Mountain Pass. It was going to be a while before Gajeel would eventually get there, but at least he could get used to driving the vehicle at high speeds while dodging traffic. If it meant getting to Kyousuke faster, he would do it.

* * *

Meanwhile, the agent that captured Kyousuke managed to arrive at the base, parking inside one of the garages in the laboratory. It was a massive security base covered in snow, the whole building was black, and there was nothing particularly odd looking about it. It was just stranded up in the mountains and probably for a "good reason." Approaching the laboratory, he opened one of the smaller garage doors to the right side of the base and headed inside, parking the van in it around many other vehicles already parked inside. The room inside was really dark, and there was only lighting from the ceiling to at least make their way through the place. The entire room was covered with steel walls and a concrete floor, and there were just other vehicles parked inside, nothing special or out of the ordinary. Having parked the van, for the time being, the agent proceeded to grab the still unconscious Kyousuke out of the back and take him to where he was supposed to go. Going straight up to a sealed security door, he entered a passkey on the side of the door and unlocked it, the door opening instantly (splitting up and down like some kind of laboratory) and closing behind him as he went in.

Inside the door was a giant elevator that he stood in as he held Kyousuke. The entire elevator was lit up with green neon tubing, along with some digital technology that the agent proceeded to utilize to operate the elevator. Upon doing so, the elevator descended with the two inside, not taking any longer than ten seconds to get to their destination. It was quite a quick transport. Once the elevator landed down on the floor the agent wished to get to, he grabbed Kyousuke and exited the elevator. He entered into a large room with a dome formation, the center having the main floor step up in a circular configuration on the outside. Not much was seen except for some experimental equipment of sorts, just a steel building with a dome structure. As the agent walked in, he took Kyousuke and tossed him into the center of the room, not caring whether or not he was hurt.

"I have completed the mission sir; I have brought Kyousuke Watanabe to you as requested," XG231 stated calmly.

"Excellent." Someone with a dark and sinister voice responded. "The hard part is finally out of the way. You may be dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," XG231 said, taking off into the elevator and heading elsewhere. With XG231 gone, Kyousuke was now in the hands of the base, and that wasn't a good thing. Someone covered in a white long-coat of sorts came up and approached Kyousuke lying on the floor still unconscious, proceeding to analyze Kyousuke as him just being there was amusing. He chuckled at the sight of seeing him right before his eyes.

"You know, you really are a trip Kyousuke; managing to break out of my grasp multiple times and surviving every attempt. The only reason you're still alive is because that pathetic Redfox was able to save you!" He shouted almost angrily, yelling before quickly calming down. He took a deep breath before going on. "But...here we are. Your little game has come to an end, and you aren't going anywhere. You thought you could get out of this alive but sadly; as you should've known, there was no escape for you." He further explained. At that moment; Kyousuke started waking up, moving around slightly as he tried getting up where he was. "Ah...it looks like the serum is finally wearing off," the man commented, watching as Kyousuke slowly got up and stretched from his unconscious state. Pushing himself up and off the ground, he slowly woke up and came back to reality, looking around and realizing where he was.

"What...where am I?" Kyousuke said to himself in wonder aloud. The man standing there proceeded to explain.

"You're back, where you should be. Welcome home." The man said, prompting Kyousuke to look at him and realize that he wasn't around anyone. Gajeel wasn't there, the forest was gone, and he was stuck in a dome base with some random guy that seemed considerably dishonest. Seeing the guy, Kyousuke suddenly was struck with a mix of shock and anger, sending the guy a frustrated expression.

"What the hell; who the hell are you?" Kyousuke questioned in shock, the guy standing there chuckling in amusement. Kyousuke didn't have a clue what was going on; he couldn't even remember what just happened to him for a moment.

"You don't remember me, what a shame. I thought you would; I was the one who ruined your life and used you for experiments, don't you remember?" The man said carelessly. He didn't even care that he was using Kyousuke like some sort of tool; the whole thing seemed like a game to him, and he had plans. With the kind of things this man sought; Kyousuke didn't mean a thing to him. Upon hearing that, Kyousuke's memory started coming back to him, and he remembered exactly what was going on, something that happened a very long time ago that had been buried deep down in his brain. It sparked this whole thing and was one of the reasons why Kyousuke was stuck here in the first place. He was paralyzed by the whole thing, and he then realized just how bad of a situation he was in. Things just took a massive turn for the worst.

* * *

As that was happening, Gajeel was still driving along I-26. He managed to pull out of the central, ongoing section of I-26 and started approaching the mountain pass. It wasn't snowy yet, but there were mountains all along the entire area, indicating that he was getting close. It started to get more winding and narrow as Gajeel drove further down I-26, and he didn't seem to have any trouble with anyone else, at least not yet. However, as he approached the upcoming winds and bends in the mountain pass, he caught a glimpse of something in his rear-view.

"What the hell is that?" Gajeel questioned curiously. It was steadily approaching and must've gotten onto I-26 through another route. It was a black Lamborghini Gallardo that somehow managed to catch up with Gajeel, slowly approaching him as Gajeel raced up the pass.

"What is it?" Victoria asked, prompting Gajeel to explain.

"There's a black car coming up on me fast," Gajeel explained, Victoria realizing who it was.

"This doesn't sound good; it sounds like one of the government agents came after you and was able to track you," Victoria explained, annoying Gajeel as he didn't need that right now.

"Damn; how the hell did they track me?"

"It's not you; it's the car. They've been after my organization for years, so they think you're one of my agents. It'll work out better for you if you can keep that cover for as long as you can." Victoria explained, prompting Gajeel to take action. As the Gallardo approached Gajeel and got close enough to keep up with him in close quarters, the two approached some of the mountain pass turns. Gajeel had to sacrifice some of his speed to keep the car in control and make sure he didn't fly off. It turned into a massive, winding left turn that Gajeel didn't quite anticipate quick enough, sliding to the outside edge and almost coming into contact with the guardrail.

 _"Dammit; I gotta slow down!"_ Gajeel thought to himself, trying to control the car from understeering. He was able to compensate by slowing down and pulling out of the turn with a sharper entrance, turning harder and using the slowdown to his advantage. As he pulled out onto a straightaway, he was able to keep the car under control, but the Gallardo was even closer now. "That was a close on," he noted, before realizing that the Gallardo was on his tail. Suddenly as Gajeel was driving, the touchscreen started flashing red sounding a beeping noise with a notification on it. Victoria was instantly notified of it and immediately informed him of the situation.

"Gajeel, the agent's going to try taking you out with an EMP Blast, you have to do something!" Victoria shouted, prompting Gajeel to take action. Keeping his eyes on the road, he tried to navigate the screen and bring up the weapon's menu, showing the available weapons he had. He had to move fast before the agent blasted him and took him out.

"He's not gonna like this," Gajeel said with a grin, deploying a spike strip instantly. From behind the GT500 deployed an instant spike-strip that spread itself out to cover the road the Gallardo was racing on. Within seconds the Gallardo hit the spike strip and blew its tires, spinning out and crashing right into the guardrail on the road, flying off the cliffside and falling. With that one attack, Gajeel instantly took care of him and was able to focus on driving again, hitting a few S-Curves throughout the pass.

"Nice work!"

"Thanks," Gajeel assured, taking off and driving forward. As he made throughout the mountain pass, he suddenly saw a car ahead of him that was racing around the same speed as Gajeel was, maybe a little slower. He was slowly approaching the vehicle, seeing that it was a silver Audi R8. As he slowly got closer to the Audi, he was notified by Victoria about it.

"Alright Gajeel, do you see the Audi in front of you?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"She's the other agent I was talking about; you'll be surprised to know who she is. Go ahead and flash your brights," Victoria informed him, startling him somewhat.

"Huh?" Gajeel said in wonder, going ahead and flashing his brights to it. As he drove, the Audi in front of him started to slow down, Gajeel pulling to the side momentarily thanks to no traffic being there. As much as he wondered, he's met her before and knows who she is. Time for them to tackle this as a tag team.


	11. Chapter 11: Undercover Hot Pursuit

_**Chapter 11: Undercover Hot Pursuit**_

Approaching the mysterious silver Audi R8, it slowed down to get closer to Gajeel as he pulled over to the side. As the two cars drove down the road, the two rolled down their windows, revealing who one another was; both came to a shocking conclusion.

"Gajeel?! Is that really you?!" Roxanne shouted from within the Audi; she was the one driving it all this time. Gajeel, seeing here, grew a grin on his face as he realized who it was.

"Well what do you know, the lady was right after all," Gajeel said with amusement, driving as Roxanne stared at him in shock. She couldn't believe he was even driving like this up the mountain pass.

"Wha...how the hell did you get up here?! How are you even driving?!" Roxanne questioned in shock, prompting Victoria to further explain as she monitored the whole thing.

"It's okay Roxanne; I helped Gajeel get up here. Let's just say that we ran into each other and I was able to get him to you as fast as possible." Victoria explained to Roxanne, connecting the two as she spoke to both at the same time. "Gajeel, you should know by now that Roxanne has been working with me as an undercover agent the entire time. She's been keeping me updated on your status and how the two of you were doing."

"Ah, I get it. That's what made it so easy for you to track me down."

"Bingo!" Victoria replied to Gajeel, him easily getting how it all fell together. "Now that the two of you are in the same place; you can take this all out toge..." Victoria started to explain. However, the signal was suddenly interrupted, and it turned into white, static noise. Both of them were exposed to it.

"Huh, what's going on?" Gajeel questioned, Roxanne, doing the same.

"I don't know, the signal sounds like it's been jammed or something," Roxanne said, trying to file through her touchscreen platform and check the connection. However, upon doing so, she suddenly was locked out of her touchscreen, and it was taken control of, as was Gajeel's. In that instant, a random voice was heard from both of their touchscreens, informing them of an incoming alert.

"Spies of Victoria Flandin; you're mission ends now!" Someone with an almost nerdy-sounding voice spoke in a strict tone. It was almost like some kind of smart guy tone; someone who also seemed a bit pretentious at that. Upon hearing that, the two looked in their rear-view mirrors to spot a black Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C6) on their tails. Both of them instantly knew that they were in trouble, but Roxanne quickly became very troubled.

"Looks like we've got company," Gajeel announced, realizing that this wasn't going to be as easy as the last time.

"This isn't just any government spy Gajeel, it's a spy that goes by the codename EG20. He's been training in high-performance pursuit chases long enough to be classed as a higher-ranking pursuer, it doesn't spell good news for us." Roxanne stated, realizing the severity of the situation. EG20 was quick to respond, listening in on their conversation.

"You sure are knowledgeable about who you're dealing with Ms. Susan Renegade, or should I say, Roxanne Laurel?" EG20 said with a twist, catching Roxanne off guard.

"Oh, so you know," she said, knowing that trying to deny it wouldn't do anything for her. "When did you figure that out?" Roxanne questioned in a stern tone.

"Don't be surprised Roxanne; it's not hard to trace your identity. When you had managed to raid one of our government bases, Susan Renegade was found detained, and we brought her in. It wasn't hard to figure out it was you through voice recognition." EG20 explained for Roxanne. When Roxanne had snatched Susan's identity, they somehow managed to find the real Susan Renegade around the same time and managed to expose Roxanne as a consequence. Oh well, it lasted for as long as it needed to at the time. Roxanne gripped the steering wheel with frustration, driving along the mountain pass as things took a turn for the worst.

"Crap, this shouldn't have happened! We need to deal with this now before anything else goes wrong." Roxanne thought to herself. Before she could make a move, however, EG20 made a move first.

"Before I get started with you Roxanne, I'm going to take care of your assistant here," EG20 stated, unaware of Gajeel's presence. He must've been only able to tune into one vehicle at a time; otherwise, he surely would've realized that is was Gajeel Redfox behind the wheel of the GT500. It was probably due to the technological advancements EG20 had in weaponry; he may have sacrificed specific features on purpose. Roxanne looked in her rear-view mirror to see the black Corvette steer behind Gajeel and follow him dead on, a silver weapon engaging from the left side of the Corvette in the process.

"Gajeel, watch out! He's going to take you out with an EMP blast!" Roxanne alerted him, to which Gajeel couldn't do anything. Gajeel couldn't veer to the left due to oncoming traffic, and he couldn't drive ahead as Roxanne was in-front of him; no matter what the Corvette was on their tail and it wasn't looking good.

"Dammit, what the hell am I supposed to do?!" Gajeel questioned in shock, unable to do anything at that moment.

"Time to take you out in three, two, one..." EG20 announced, preparing to fire an EMP blast at the GT500 and take Gajeel out. However, in a shocking turn of events, they suddenly approached an area on the mountain pass that split off into two different sections. On the left was an extensive tunnel route that went straight through the mountain itself, and on the right was the mountain pass that took you around the mountain. At that moment, Gajeel, seeing the mountain tunnel in front of him, immediately veered into the tunnel, barely being centimeters away from hitting an oncoming traffic car as he flew straight into the tunnel, driving off and managing to dodge the EMP blast as he drove on.

"That was a close one; had I got hit I would be flying off the cliffside," Gajeel remarked, driving through the tunnel as it whipped around a sizeable left turn. His expression turned to a stern, determined look. As he drove, Roxanne managed to still stay in contact with him as it went by.

"That was too close Gajeel; this is a dangerous situation."

"Oh yeah, I couldn't tell," Gajeel said sarcastically, driving along as Roxanne brushed it off.

"This guy is dangerous; you need to drive as fast as you can. If you get out of the tunnel before me that's fine; just make sure you stay on I-26. We have to get to Kyousuke before they do," Roxanne explained. Gajeel grinned in response as he drove on. He knew exactly what he needed to do.

"Don't worry; I'm not gonna let them get to him; not on my watch," Gajeel said with reassurance, driving down the tunnel at high speed as Roxanne focused on EG20. He was running her down and wasn't going to give up, following her like a leech as she kept on driving.

"You really think you're going to get away from me? Ha, I'd like to see you try Roxanne; you were never that good of a driver." EG20 taunted, approaching Roxanne slowly as she kept on driving. She gritted her teeth in response to that, focusing on the road ahead of her as she prepared to outrun him.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if you can keep up then!" Roxanne shouted, hitting the gas and driving off as fast as she could. The Audi R8 vs. the Corvette Z06; who would win? Driving ahead, she passed some oncoming traffic as the road veered to the left, managing to keep her speed under control as she cut the corner as tight as she could while making sure no traffic was coming her way. EG20 followed her tightly, keeping on her as she managed to straighten out and keep going. Not far ahead was a series of S-bend turns that followed, shifting left and right a couple of times before shifting a sharp left at the end. Seeing no traffic ahead, Roxanne cut through the corners with as straight of a line as possible, managing to gain just a little bit of ground off of EG20, but not enough to really throw him off. Taking the final left turn in the chicane, she only barely managed to slip by an oncoming traffic car she didn't anticipate, just centimeters away from it before getting back into her lane and driving on.

"That was a close on," Roxanne noted, trying to stay focused on the road. With as much pressure as she had on her, it was incredibly difficult for her to stay focused; she had to drive fast enough to make sure that EG20 didn't get a good shot at blasting her out of the game without hitting any oncoming cars. On top of that, she also had to make sure she didn't fly off the guard-rail, so the amount of precise control she needed to maintain was ridiculously high. There was also the other stress of her identity being exposed, Gajeel being stuck in an alternate route and having been split up, and Kyousuke being who knows where. She had to keep focused under all of this tension, and it was anything but easy for her. EG20 only made it worse.

"You've been able to keep up for this long; of course it hasn't been the worst of it yet," EG20 remarked, frustrating Roxanne as she chose to ignore him. Driving on, she quickly pulled to the left lane as she passed a car she was approaching, getting back over as EG20 followed. The road then took a sharp left turn and continued on, slightly sloping downwards for a minute as they both picked up speed. The way was clear for the time being, the two of them getting near 200 MPH as they floored the gas, soon hitting an upward slope that slowly veered to the right. Roxanne kept on driving as EG20 followed behind her, taking each corner as fast as she could while keeping her speed up. Approaching one of the turns that hit a soft right before suddenly turning into a sharp left, she took the corner at a poor angle and ended up accidentally grazing the guardrail, losing control for a second and scratching the car as she drove along. EG20 couldn't help but mock her for this. "What did I expect; you're not as good of a driver as you like to think you are!"

"Shut up!" Roxanne spat, making EG20 laugh as the two of them both hit another series of long-winding turns. The curves slightly curved on an angled slope as they drove, making it necessary that they don't let gravity get the best of their car's traction.

"To think that you had become an agent for Victoria Flandin; CEO of one of the most powerful government corporations in the world?! I'm genuinely shocked; you're just an average school girl obsessed with stupid children's shows." EG20 further taunted. This made both Roxanne and Gajeel angry, the latter tuned into the voice channel and able to hear the two through Roxanne's feed.

"Shut up, what the hell do you know?!" Roxanne yelled angrily, driving along as she started shaking from all the tension. "You're just a stupid, pretentious know-it-all! You never knew how to stay out of everyone's business; why can't you mind your own for once?!"

"Roxanne, grow up! This is a national security crisis; do you have any idea of the scale of Project DSP?! Kyousuke's been involved with it since his childhood; there was nothing you could do to stop or prevent it. This is stuff you shouldn't be meddling with!"

"Who are you to tell me what I should be doing?! Kyousuke's my friend; I'm not going to just leave him!"

"He's a criminal! Nothing more, nothing less. He is worthless; he has nothing to offer this world. You act like he cares about you; he only cares about himself. This world has conditioned him to reject everything society has to offer; it doesn't matter to him what you do." EG20 went on. The more he went on, the more upset Roxanne got. Driving throughout the mountain pass, she gripped the wheel harder, and her anger became more intense as EG20 continued on about how everything she was doing was wrong. Her feelings didn't matter to him, and even if she knew that it didn't change how it made her feel. "Don't forget that he also hangs out with that murderer!"

"What?!" Roxanne chimed in. Gajeel was also listening as he knew precisely what EG20 meant; he had to deal with the backlash of it earlier. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"The only reason this whole mess started is because of the well known Gajeel Redfox; he is nothing but a murderous scumbag, worthless trash."

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!" Roxanne screamed angrily, shaking from the anger as EG20 went on. "Don't you dare talk about him like that to me!"

"Look at you, screaming like a little girl having a temper tantrum; it's nothing but the truth! He is a savage animal!"

"LIAR! You don't even know him; Gajeel's done more for me in the little time he's been here than you have ever done in your entire life! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I'm not going to just let you talk shit about him to my face!"

"GROW UP ROXANNE! It's not a game; he's a dangerous threat. He should be killed; he doesn't deserve to be here; hell Gajeel could barely even make it when he was back in Fairy Tail from the research I've done. He's weak, he can only survive in this world because he has magic power! You think people change; he hasn't changed a bit since Phantom Lord; he's still a fowl, vile, murderous punk! He only joined Fairy Tail because he knew everyone would eat him alive! He only cares about himself; you mean nothing to him." EG20 spouted off, making Gajeel angry unknowingly as Roxanne fired off.

"Like you would know anything about change, Daniel!"

"DON'T REFER TO ME BY THAT NAME YOU WORTHLESS BRAT!" EG20 screamed in response, angrily hammering the gas in a rage-filled attempt to rear-end Roxanne. Roxanne didn't care at this point. However, she couldn't care any less after all that went down. She was furious with him, as was Gajeel, unknowingly.

"LIKE YOU'RE ONE TO TALK DANIEL! You've always been the snarky, pretentious, know-it-all brat you are because deep down you're just afraid of everything! You're so scared of letting people inside; even Gajeel was willing to prove himself loyal even when everyone was against him! You have no idea of what that is!"

"I told you to NOT refer me by that NAME!"

"I DON'T CARE! SHUT UP! You're so afraid you gave into the government; you think Gajeel is worthless, but you're terrified of him! The truth is; you have no idea what fear really FEELS LIKE!" Roxanne angrily screamed, immediately slamming on her brakes as EG20 rammed right into her unintentionally. As stupid as this was, Roxanne purposely did it, forcing EG20 to hit the brakes and start spinning out on the road as Roxanne lost control of her car as well. Roxanne, spinning to the left, immediately tried to countersteer as she was lucky enough to come on a left turn approaching, using it to her advantage as she just barely was able to drift out of it.

* * *

In the moment of losing control, the memories of her childhood involving Kyousuke and Daniel surfaced back up once again. Kyousuke was always the loner child that would do everything by himself; he never talked to anyone and barely had any friends. At the time, Roxanne was too afraid to approach him herself for fear of being rejected; but she was the only student who seemed to actually care about his well being. Everyone else only mocked him and made fun of him behind his back; he was the kid that beat everyone up. She remembered the time when she and Daniel happened to be standing next to each other, watching from afar as Kyousuke was heading to his locker; having his usual depressed attitude from everything that was going on. This was back in middle school.

"Gosh, that kid is such a loser," Daniel mocked, "he wonders why he has no friends when he just wants to fight with everyone, so stupid." Roxanne overheard him and started yelling at him; he would constantly bully her and call her stupid and too soft. He was the popular smart kid, and ever since Roxanne began caring about Kyousuke's well being her popularity in school declined, not that it bothered her.

"Shut up Daniel!" Roxanne shouted, "even if he didn't stand up for himself everyone would make fun of him anyways! He's sick of being pushed around by people like you!" She went on, making Daniel scoff at the idea.

"You're such a stupid girl," Daniel retorted, Roxanne, staring in disbelief. "How many times have I told you not to call me by that name?! Clearly, you don't watch him when he's in a fight; he's caused injuries that have required strict medical attention. He only wants to hurt people; don't pretend to care about people like that. Of course, only stupid girls like you care about him," Daniel mockingly explained. People laughed with Daniel as they went on with what they needed to do, but Roxanne refused to accept it. She was unaware that Kyousuke was overhearing the two of them the whole time. He was just standing there, watching them as Roxanne was getting angry, though with him rejection was something he faced on a daily basis.

"You're the stupid one; you always have to act like you're better than everyone else!"

"I am, I'm better than the both of you, and not as stupid."

"I hate you, Daniel! You never give anyone a chance! Why can't you just be nice to him for once!" Roxanne yelled angrily, to which the situation changed drastically. Daniel, out of anger, hit her in the face and made her fall to the ground, having a bruise on her face from the hit. She looked back up at Daniel, about to cry over it as he angrily started yelling at her. You could see the tears in her eyes building up from it.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT, STUPID GIRL! Stupid, stupid, stupid; you just don't get it, do you?! No wonder no one likes you, you stupid..." Daniel started yelling angrily at Roxanne, her on the floor crying over it. However, at the moment, Roxanne watched as Kyousuke was standing over her, punching Daniel right in the face as he went to beat him up for hitting her. Roxanne sat and watched as she was in tears, watching it turn into a huge mess as the two fought, Kyousuke having the upper hand. For someone to argue in his defense like she did, he wasn't going to just watch her get hit in the face. It also stemmed from a personal grudge against Daniel though, and when Kyousuke got home, it wasn't going to be a comfortable night for him.

* * *

"YOU MANIAC! What the hell do you think you're doing; are you trying to get us both killed?!" EG20 screamed as he tried to gain control of his car, spinning in a complete 360 before letting off the gas temporarily to control the car once again. Roxanne snapped back to reality as she realized the current predicament she was in. EG20 worked, carefully throttling the gas to keep it under control and was successful, barely able to control it as they drove out of the corner. They happened to be passing a large tunnel area in the process. As Roxanne zoomed passed it, EG20 was only barely able to get to it in time for a black GT500 to come flying straight out of the tunnel, slamming right into the side of the Corvette as the two crashed and spun out instantly. EG20 flew right into the guardrail and damaged his car enough to total it while spinning out onto the road in the process, flipping over and landing on the car's roof, blowing his engine. Gajeel did the same, flying off the collision and hitting the side of the mountain while also blowing his engine, damaging the rear end of the car as it hit the wall and tumbled a bit down the road, landing back on its wheels and coming to a complete stop. Roxanne, driving ahead, heard and saw all of it and slammed her breaks.

"No! It's him!" Roxanne shouted, immediately stopping her car in the middle of the road. There were no cars visible, and they probably have already passed into the cutoff area between I-26 and I-74. With Roxanne immediately coming to a stop, she got out of her car and quickly ran to Gajeel where his GT500 was, seeing him break open one of the windows and come out as Roxanne ran straight to him. "Holy crap, are you alright?!"

"That was one hell of a wreck; I'm gonna be feeling that for a while." Gajeel groaned, getting out of the car. Standing on the road, he started stretching out and moving around a bit as he tried getting adjusted. For an average person, they would be traumatized by the incident. Gajeel was anything but average though, and he probably has dealt with far worse things. Roxanne stood there and watched as she breathed heavily in shock from seeing the whole thing go down. As Gajeel got adjusted to things, Roxanne turned and saw EG20 trying to get out of the car, her attention immediately being diverted to him as she went straight for him. Pulling out of the driver's window, EG20 got up and tried walking around but couldn't even focus. He stumbled back onto the flipped over Corvette as he held a hand on his head in pain, not seeing Roxanne angrily approach him. He wasn't going anywhere as Roxanne grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him straight to herself, decking him straight in the face without any hesitation.

"You ASSHOLE!" She screamed, throwing EG20 up against the car as he couldn't control himself; trying to regain his senses from both the crash and the punch. She immediately went up to EG20 and started whaling on him, Gajeel seeing it and heading over as Roxanne went all out on him. She grabbed him and began punching him in the face multiple times, throwing him up against the car and slamming his head into it out of pure rage. "YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE IT ALL BACK; TAKE IT BACK! YOU'RE SUCH A JERK! I HATE YOU!" Roxanne screamed angrily, taking EG20 and throwing him right on the ground, pinning him down as she started repeatedly punching him in the face. By this point, his glasses were shattered, and his face was covered in blood; Roxanne was livid. Seeing how angry and full of hate she was, Gajeel grabbed her and immediately pulled her away, holding onto her as she struggled to break free.

"Knock it off! That's enough!" Gajeel shouted, Roxanne still struggling as she wanted to keep beating him up.

"Let me go! Put me down; he's going to pay for what he said!"

"QUIT IT; I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!" Gajeel screamed, forcing Roxanne to stop as she turned to him in shock. This was enough to put her at bay, her looking to him for a minute fearfully as he gave her a very stern stare. As she stopped, Gajeel went straight to EG20, now unconscious thanks to Roxanne's barrage and the trauma from the crash, and grabbed him by his shirt. At that moment, he picked him up and threw him up against the Corvette, letting him fall to the ground as he wasn't of any use to them anymore, at least for the time being. "Let's get the hell out of here," Gajeel told Roxanne, following her back to her Audi as it was the only functioning car there. His GT500 was trashed; no use in trying to drive it anymore. As she went to approach the car though, she couldn't stop herself from breaking down in tears, crying out in it all as Gajeel turned to her in shock.

"IT'S NOT FAIR! THAT BASTARD!" She screamed, wailing as she broke down in front of Gajeel. "You didn't do anything wrong; you don't deserve to be treated like that!"

"Just forget it, Roxanne," Gajeel told her, not wanting to deal with the feelings behind what EG20 said. To him, it was pointless to get worked up over what some stupid person said, but Roxanne, however, couldn't help it.

"But you're my friend! He said all those horrible things about you; it's not true! It's not fair!" Roxanne cried, immediately running into Gajeel's arms and hugging him tightly as she broke down. Gajeel, in the midst of the situation, was a little surprised by this but let her, knowing of what went down between them. He stared at her a little surprised as she went on. "You saved me when I needed you; I can't just let him say all that stuff about you and Kyousuke!"

"Hey kid, quit crying will ya," Gajeel said calmly, Roxanne still crying regardless. Nothing anyone could do would make her stop, "I don't care what that scumbag thinks. The only thing I care about right now is saving Kyousuke." Gajeel explained to Roxanne, who continued to cry into him.

"But Kyousuke means so much to me; he's the whole reason I took on being an agent from the start. I knew about what he dealt with and wanted to help him!" Roxanne explained, revealing some information about Kyousuke as she went on. "He always looked up to you in some way; I tried to help him out, but I always felt like I couldn't reach him!" Roxanne explained, Gajeel looking at her in wonder. This was something Kyousuke didn't tell him; he only told him about him being known as just a fictional character. He didn't reveal he had any attachment to him before they met.

"What are you talking about?"

"He always held you close in some way; he'd draw pictures of you and from what I know admired you. You're the only reason he's even trying right now; if you weren't here, he would still be back at home dealing with his abusive parents. You have to help him!" Roxanne explained tearfully, trying to clean up her tearful mess. This shocked Gajeel; he knew nothing of this because Kyousuke never told him anything. The only thing he knew of were the feelings that he had for him while they knew each other in person; did this fuel the attachment Kyousuke had to him?

"Huh? The kid never told me that," Gajeel expressed. Roxanne looked up in surprise to that, not expecting such a response.

"What...you mean he never told you anything?"

"He told me that everybody knew me as some kind of character in some TV Show called Fairy Tail, that's it. I knew the kid knew about me, but I didn't know he looked up to me." Gajeel explained, surprising Roxanne. The two headed to the Audi R8 as they processed it in their heads, both baffled that this wasn't revealed to him. Gajeel didn't expect it, and Roxanne thought Kyousuke would open up about it, but Kyousuke hid it from him. Why? The only way to find out was to save him from the predicament he found himself in.


	12. Chapter 12: Paralytic Fear

_**Chapter 12: Paralytic Fear**_

The two headed up for the base that Kyousuke was being held up in, Roxanne driving the Audi R8 as Gajeel just sat back in the passenger seat. So much has already happened that they didn't know what to think of it; it started to feel like one big blur. Roxanne was far too upset over everything that just went down to be clear-headed in any way possible, and Gajeel only had one goal in mind. Even though their primary motivation was saving Kyousuke, it wasn't like they were unbothered by everything that has happened already. Roxanne was the first to initiate a conversation about it, driving up towards the base.

"I'm...uh..." Roxanne spat, trying to put the words together as Gajeel looked at her, sitting back in the chair with his arm up on the door. He knew exactly what she was going to talk about. "With Kyousuke and all..."

"You didn't think he would hide it from me, huh?" Gajeel questioned, surprising Roxanne as she nodded in response.

"Yeah...I thought he might have trusted you more." She added on. Gajeel didn't seem that surprised by it, shockingly enough.

"He was never the type to go around sharing his personal life." Gajeel went on, Roxanne listening as she knew exactly what he meant. "He'd barely tell me anything, and even then it would only be what he wanted me to know." He went on. Gajeel had to corner Kyousuke with every question just to get answers from him, one example being the scars on his back. Despite making it clear that Kyousuke already knew who he was, he never said anything about why that was the case, or what was behind him knowing.

"He's been like that his entire life," Roxanne confirmed, driving along as she drove down a long stretch to the base. Gajeel rose a brow as he listened on, Roxanne going into detail about it. "Believe it or not I constantly would watch him throughout school when we grew up. Whenever school would end, he would sometimes get into fights with other students or get cornered by school staff, just because of his reputation. I would stay back and watch him from time to time, just to see what he was up to." Roxanne explained. Gajeel gave her a perplexed look in response to that statement.

"Huh, so you stalked him?" Gajeel questioned, surprising Roxanne as she realized what she just said.

"What?! I didn't stalk him...I just..." She tried saying in her defense, though falling apart at the end. Roxanne realized how strange it was to just do it and got embarrassed just talking about it. Gajeel though wasn't happy to hear it; he knew of espionage work but straight up stalking someone for the heck of it is Juvia level.

"Did you ever think that maybe he wanted to be left the hell alone?" Gajeel reprimanded, catching Roxanne off-guard.

"It's not like I got in his way all the time okay?! You don't need to get so angry. Besides, I didn't just do it for me." Roxanne said in her defense, further confusing Gajeel.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It was a request made by Victoria Flandin herself. I'm not some creep okay!" Roxanne clarified. Upon hearing that, Gajeel realized then that there was more to it than he thought, especially if Victoria Flandin was involved.

"You should've said that in the first place!" Gajeel spat, understanding what she meant and finally making sense of it. Kyousuke being a part of Project DSP like Victoria mentioned, Gajeel knew that it was because Kyousuke's situation was so drastic. Roxanne just brushed off the comment and moved on, knowing that Gajeel understood what she meant.

"Anyways, our relationship was never more than acquaintances. Even though I tried to help him out he would never let me do anything; it was like this black haze constantly followed him wherever he went." She explained further.

"Do you know what happened to him as a kid?" Gajeel questioned, prompting Roxanne to shake her head in response. This surprised Gajeel: he would've expected her to know at least something that might be the cause of this.

"I don't know anything about what happened in his childhood; I just know that nobody treated him right. I tried looking into anything that might lead to it, but I couldn't find anything at all." Roxanne said. She gripped the steering wheel as she drove on in frustration, Gajeel noticing as she kept on going, heading to the base. "Everybody looked down on him; they treated him like he was an outcast; the black sheep of the school. I tried to be friends with him, but he would never let me in; he always pushed me away." She explained, her expression getting more solemn as she went on. "I probably just seemed like some annoying girl getting in the way."

"You didn't have to tell me that," Gajeel said looking out the window, aggravating Roxanne.

"Hey! Are you saying that I really am annoying?! I'm not annoying, come on!"

"Lighten up kid! I was just playing around!" Gajeel spat in return, calming Roxanne down as she just blew it off and went on.

"Anyways...I've felt bad the whole time I've known him. There have been times when he's defended me before, and I stood up for him, but he's never told me where I stand with him. He's a complete mystery to me; Kyousuke would never talk with me about how he really feels on much of anything except for how he felt about you. Even then he wouldn't say much." Roxanne explained. Listening, Gajeel remembered the experiences that he had with Kyousuke, recalling the things he's said about people and everything.

"She's not my friend, she just wants to talk to me all the time, there's a difference..."

"This is why I can't do anything, can't get out, can't have any freedom to do what I want. I have no power in this situation, or over myself..."

"Dreams of this blue creature trying to kill me; going on about being trapped in restrained in some way. I don't even know why..."

"I hate feeling like I can't do anything about this. That's all it's ever been, just me being powerless over anything..." Gajeel remembered, sifting through it all as the conversation between him and Roxanne continued.

"I knew the kid liked me from the start, I just didn't know why. As I followed him around, I realized that he had more in common with me than I thought." Gajeel explained, surprising Roxanne as she listened in on what he was saying. "Kyousuke just gave up trying to fight; he felt like things were never gonna change," Gajeel explained while clenching his fists tightly. He was exactly right; Kyousuke didn't do anything because he felt like it was pointless. Roxanne knew this too, and it upset her. She gripped the steering wheel again in frustration as she expressed what was truly bothering her at the moment.

"I just hope we can still save him, that we aren't too late. I'm just...afraid that we won't make it in time, that they've already done something!" Roxanne said in frustration. You could hear the struggle in her voice, this was clearly bothering her. Gajeel could easily see this, but he wasn't going to cuddle up with her just to make her feel better.

"We don't have time to be worrying about that," Gajeel said in response, surprising Roxanne as he went on. "Besides, he won't give in that easily." Gajeel reminded her, making Roxanne think for a moment. He was right; in this kind of situation, Kyousuke wasn't going to just lie there and take it. Roxanne knew that, and with that, she was reassured that everything would be fine, hopefully.

It wasn't long before the two arrived at the base where Kyousuke was being held; that's where their real mission began. It was the same large black building that Kyousuke was brought into before by XG231; the entire area was covered in snow, and the tracks where XG231 went in had already been covered up by the falling snow. Roxanne parked the Audi R8 somewhere outside of the building as the two immediately got out and saw what they were about to go forthwith. It was cold enough out here that they could see their breath; Roxanne was breathing heavily as she cleared her throat, staring at the giant atrocity that stood before her.

"Well...here we are." She said, feeling the pressure of what she was about to face. Roxanne was all for saving Kyousuke, but she also knew of the kind of trouble she was putting herself in; anything could happen to them in that building. That was a risk they had to be willing to take though if they wanted to save Kyousuke. Gajeel was ready to head into the building and started making the first steps towards it.

"Let's get moving; we're just gonna waste time standing out here." Gajeel alerted, moving ahead as Roxanne followed from behind. The two went up to the same small garage entrance that XG231 went into. Luckily, despite her cover as Susan Renegade being blown, she still had ways to crack the system. Gajeel was just going to try to break through the door himself; he was strong enough to do it. "Get out of the way kid; I'm gonna break this door down myself!" He alerted, preparing to break through it using his Iron Dragon's Club. Roxanne, however, wasn't up for it.

"Hey wait! Don't do anything!" She yelled, throwing her arms up and stopping him as he turned and shot her a perplexed look.

"What's the deal?"

"I have a better way of getting in; you don't need to break the door down. I can get this door unlocked myself if I can crack the passcode on the door. It'll just take me a little bit to break into the security system here." Roxanne suggested, much to Gajeel's dismay. It was such a bad alternative to him that he immediately disregarded it.

"We don't have time for that kid; we gotta get in and save Kyousuke now!" Gajeel said, focusing on breaking down the door like he was going to do in the first place. Roxanne, however, was still opposed to it, trying to get him to stop.

"We can't just barrage in; do you want them to see us?! We have to be as sneaky as possible!" Roxanne suggested. Normally Gajeel would agree, but in this situation, it was now or never to him.

"You really think we're gonna be able to sneak into a place like this?! Think about it kid; Kyousuke and I barely survived the last place we escaped! We're just gonna waste time waiting for you to break in!" Gajeel argued. In that instant, a couple security cameras popped out from the building and engaged in a special-ops mode, instantly going into attack mode.

"Unknown presence detected; activating self-defense sequence." It said in a robotic voice, shooting lasers at the two as they jumped out of the way of the lasers. Both lasers hit spots in the snow and melted it in an instant, the cameras firing off again at the two as the two wizards ran around dodging it.

"What the hell; they have security defenses outside of the building too?!" Roxanne shouted in surprise, covering her head as she ducked and dodged the lasers targetting her.

"What did you think was gonna happen, kid?!" Gajeel retorted, dodging the lasers and moving out of the way. Roxanne did the same.

"Whatever, just forget it; we need to get through this somehow! We're heading nowhere like this!" Roxanne shouted in frustration. In that instant, Gajeel turned around and went straight for the door, immediately attacking it with his Iron Dragon's Club a few times and breaking through it. The door itself flew off inside the building as the two saw their way out of this mess.

"Let's go, come on!" Gajeel shouted, running in as Roxanne followed from behind, managing to dodge the lasers as the two got going. In that instant, the security system detected that the two had infiltrated the base and alerted everyone else in the building that intruders were present. There was no escape out of this situation; they would just have to fight their way through this mess. Gajeel just kept running through the base as Roxanne followed him, guiding him throughout the areas she may some knowledge on. Immediately heading for the first door they came across, Gajeel broke the pass-key lock on the door and managed to glitch it, causing the door to open. In that instant, the two ran into the same elevator that XG231 initially went down, heading down the exact same path without even realizing it. At that moment the two rode down the chute, slowly heading down there as the elevator was anything but fast. The two were ready for anything, though things didn't seem right.

"What kind of place is this?!" Roxanne said in surprise, "Neon tubing in the elevators, a black large security fort out in the middle of nowhere? Why would Kyousuke be brought here of all places?" She thought aloud. According to Victoria Flandin, this was the area he was being taken to, though there was no way for Roxanne or Gajeel to get back into contact with her, so they were on their own for the time being. Gajeel felt the same but wasn't too concerned with it.

"Whatever the hell this place is, it sure ain't normal. We gotta find him before things get ugly." Gajeel affirmed, Roxanne, agreeing as they focused on the task at hand. Gajeel had a superstition that something wasn't right, especially with how unusual the place already was. He just kept it to himself though; telling Roxanne might put her in the wrong state of mind.

Eventually, after waiting for so long, the two managed to get down into the main area Kyousuke was dropped off last time, the two leaving the elevator and running out into the room. As the two ran into it, Roxanne immediately stopped in her tracks as she realized something was flying straight towards her, not having enough time to deduce what it was and react. A large saw-blade was flying out of the air, aiming straight for Roxanne unexpectedly as she was in too much shock and confusion to respond in time to it.

"Get out of the way!" Gajeel yelled, shoving her out of the way as he jumped in and punched the blade with his iron fists, shattering it into pieces in an instant. Roxanne, still standing on her feet, shook her head in shock as she tried to regain her focus, Gajeel standing in front of her defensively. "What's up with you, you need to watch yourself!" Gajeel warned, alerting Roxanne and getting her back on track.

"Sorry, I just lost my focus for a second," Roxanne responded, Gajeel just brushing it off. At least that's what she thought at the time being.

"Next time I might not be there to save you," Gajeel warned as Roxanne understood. However, in that instant, things suddenly took a very different course.

"Ahh, so it seems that you two have finally come; here to save your friend Kyousuke right?" A dark and sinister voice said. At that moment the two looked up in the air to see the same guy in the white long-coat staring down at the two from a balcony up above that wrapped around the room. Seeing him here, the two got on their guard and were ready for anything. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. Roxanne was the first to engage him in conversation.

"Where is he?! You better tell us, or you'll be sorry!" Roxanne shouted angrily, equipping a Magic Scythe to her hands, preparing for the battle of some kind. She held it and got in a defensive stance with it, ready for any attack that might be thrown at her. As she did so the guy up on the balcony chuckled in amusement, prompting a stern look from the both of them as he went on.

"Why don't worry Roxanne, nothing is going to happen right now; I just want to have a little chat about your friend here." The guy said, shocking Roxanne as she was taken aback for a minute, not knowing what was happening.

"Wait...how do you know my name?!"

"Are you seriously asking me that question; you're with the famous self-acclaimed murderer Gajeel Redfox, the one to prove fiction is indeed a fabrication of our reality." The guy said, putting the two in for a loop as they both tried to sort through what he was saying. He had a very technical and elaborate way of wording things. Gajeel rose a brow in response to that statement as the guy went on. "You can't work for Victoria Flandin and expect to go as if nobody knows who you are; let's be serious here. As far as the government is concerned everyone knows about you; you're not far off from being called a traitor here are you Ms. Laurel?" He provocatively stated, trying to trigger Roxanne and get under her skin.

"A Traitor?!" Roxanne spat in shock, listening as the guy went on.

"Do you seriously not see it? A government-affiliated spy working against the government with a national threat; if there's anything you don't understand it's that you can't run around in your fairy tales forever." The guy said, making it seem like this whole thing was a joke. Roxanne was only getting angrier as he went on, making sense of what he was saying. Gajeel was going to step in to keep her focused, but he realized he didn't have to; Roxanne took a deep breath to calm herself down before she retorted.

"Let's get something straight; she doesn't work for you. She is working to stop you and your corrupt plans! You can't-fool me with those kinds of mind-games!" Roxanne stated in self-assurance, staring the guy down as he sighed and stared about. He wasn't very amused with her intolerance towards him.

"You're right, what am I to expect? Besides, it's not as if I know exactly what she's doing at every moment of the day. Maybe that's why it was so difficult for you to get here in the first place?" The guy said, putting Roxanne into a state of utter shock. He worded it in a way that perfectly explained the predicaments that they fell into, her shock only being exasperated as he went on. "I know not only what you are up to, but what you delusional friend is up to as well." The guy explained, referring to Kyousuke but focusing on Gajeel as he continued. Gajeel refused to believe it.

"You really think I'm gonna fall for that? I ain't that stupid." Gajeel retorted, only for the guy to keep going.

"You aren't stupid, that's what so exciting about you. You just had the wool pulled over your eyes all this time. If it weren't for that delusional brat, you would be mine to command. It would be so easy for me to turn you into the most powerful weapon I have in my arsenal." The guy explained, Gajeel remembering precisely what he was referring to. It was back when Kyousuke flew into a rage over Gajeel being physically tortured and being told his memory was going to be wiped. Roxanne, already in shock over finding out that her every attempt to stay undercover was thwarted, became further confused. She looked to Gajeel in shock, starting to tremble as she tried to piece together everything the guy was saying.

"So...he was going to turn you into a weapon?" Roxanne said in shock. Gajeel turned to see her and realized something was very wrong.

"Huh...hey, what's the matter with you?" Gajeel questioned, seeing Roxanne's state. She was shaking with fear, starting to hyperventilate slightly as she looked around in horror. Roxanne was beginning to panic; that's when Gajeel knew something was definitely wrong. "What the hell is wrong with her; all he's doing is running his mouth, and she can't even control herself." Gajeel realized, seeing how bad this was. What in the world was going on? "Hey Roxanne, snap out of it! What the hell is the matter with you?!" Gajeel shouted, grabbing her and shaking her to try to get her to snap out of it. It was to no effect; Roxanne just stood there trembling with widened eyes as she stared at Gajeel, unable to even process what she was thinking in her head. As such ensued, the guy above chuckled in amusement, getting Gajeel's attention as he watched him struggle with her.

"Oh what a tragedy; she can't even handle a simple conversation with me. I guess I could always try to talk with you Gajeel; there's still the time you were in Phantom Lord. I could use that kind of attitude in my personal arsenal, but you don't have to worry about that. You don't even have to try to fit that crazed reputation of yours." The guy explained. In an instant, Gajeel turned and attacked the guy without hesitation, using his Iron Dragon's Club on him. The guy jumped to the side, just barely dodging it as Gajeel hit the wall behind him and left a hole in it. Funny enough, Roxanne suddenly fell to her knees and started breathing heavily, slowly calming down as Gajeel kept his focus on the guy up above.

"Listen punk," Gajeel questioned provocatively, the guy getting up as Gajeel stared him down with a menacing look. "I'm sick of hearing you run your mouth; what I did in Phantom Lord is none of your business," Gajeel warned, retracting his Iron Dragon's Club as he was ready for anything. "Where the hell's Kyousuke?! You better tell me or else!" Gajeel shouted furthermore, Roxanne finally calming down and realizing what was going on as she managed to get back up onto her feet. She shook her head from side to side really quickly before putting her focus back on the guy up-top, who was somewhat disturbed by Gajeel's reaction.

"Not only are you not stupid, but you're also not easily swayed Gajeel. Too bad, our conversation ends here." The guy said, suddenly fading out of the air like some kind of holographic image, disappearing as both Gajeel and Roxanne widened their eyes a bit. Things took a turn for the worst when they both realized the situation they were in.

"Dammit, where the hell did he go?!" Gajeel said in shock, prompting Roxanne to explain.

"He was a fake; that was just a projection of him. It looks like we'll have to track him down..." Roxanne explained, her attention being diverted as something else happened. Suddenly, the two looked around in shock as they heard massive saw-blades turning in the air, seeing multiple blades coming out of the walls spinning at high speed. Both of them had to think fast as they were being targetted by those blades. "Things just got so much worse so quickly." Roxanne spat. Gajeel just gritted his teeth at the moment; their primary target wasn't even really there, and now they're stuck in this situation.

"I'd like to get my hands on that punk and teach him a lesson!" Gajeel shouted, pumping his fists together as he was just going to be dealing with these saw-blades for now. However, that was about to change. In an instant, Roxanne required a unique tool of hers called the X-Grapple. As the saw-blades kept spinning in preparation to fire, Roxanne used the grapple to latch onto the metal rail where the lab-guy was standing up before. After, latching on, she grabbed Gajeel's arm in that instant, getting his attention in that very second.

"We're getting out of this area first!" Roxanne stated, grabbing him and pulling him up with her as she used the grapple to launch herself up onto the upper level, pulling themselves just out of the way of the saw-blades that came flying out at them. The saw-blades finally launched and all flew into each other, ricocheting off in random directions as they got stuck in the walls of the area. With the grapple, the two got pulled up and landed on the level the lab guy was "supposedly" at, now gone. There was a corridor that led out of the room from the level they were on, which Gajeel saw and immediately took.

"Let's go kid!"

"Right," Roxanne said in response, following Gajeel as the two took off down this area. It was a long corridor that led out of the room, seemingly long and narrow for a building like this. It was dark and maze-like just like the building Kyousuke and Gajeel were stuck in before. With the two running through the long hallway, Roxanne suddenly got caught up thinking about what was going on earlier, having to stop and slow down for a second as she got too caught up in thinking about it. Hearing her slow down and come to a stop, Gajeel did the same and gave her his attention.

"What's up with you?" Gajeel questioned, focusing on her as she stopped and stared at the ground for a second, thinking over what just went down earlier.

"Something was seriously up with that guy from earlier, I've never felt that uneasy in my life," Roxanne stated calmly. Gajeel sent her a perplexed look as he confirmed it.

"You're telling me, kid; you were panicking back there, getting terrified over nothin'," Gajeel stated, Roxanne understanding precisely what he meant by that.

"I just..." Roxanne stated, struggling to put her words together as she was trying to explain. "I felt like everything was hopeless, and that our efforts were wasted. He made me feel like everything I had done was for nothing; that he was the puppet master and we're the puppets in his master plan." Roxanne explained. You could hear the fear of it in her voice; she had never felt so disturbed from talking to someone like that ever; it was like he knew exactly what to say to get under her skin, creepily so. Gajeel, however, didn't understand where she was coming from.

"You really think you can handle this?" Gajeel questioned straight up. Roxanne suddenly shot him a baffled expression in response to that.

"Wha...what do you mean?"

"If you're getting all freaked out just by talking to that guy, you shouldn't even be here. We don't have time to get all upset over what the hell that punk was saying." Gajeel explained, ticking off Roxanne somewhat. She immediately became defensive as she got somewhat upset.

"What, so suddenly you think I can't handle this just because I got a little freaked out?!" Roxanne argued, prompting Gajeel to reply.

"I'm just saying if you can't keep control yourself what good are you gonna do here?" He argued. Roxanne crossed her arms in response.

"I don't care what you think; you're telling me you didn't feel anything strange from that guy?" Roxanne questioned, prompting Gajeel to instantly brush it off and continue on.

"Get a grip; he's just trying to get in your head. You better get used to it, or else you're not gonna survive. I don't have time to deal with this crap." Gajeel straight up told her, further bewildering Roxanne as Gajeel continued on ahead. It was like he had no idea what was going on with Roxanne, almost like Roxanne did just get terrified for no reason. The fact that he wasn't tactful about it either was also hurtful, but then again what did she expect from him? He was never the type to sit there and pat her on the back.

 _"You can think what you want, but it's not going to change how I feel about it."_ Roxanne thought to herself over it. She refused to believe it; how could she work as an agent for Victoria Flandin if she was that easily frightened? Something was up, and whether or not Roxanne's suspicions were correct, she had to figure it out. Regardless, Roxanne tried to ignore Gajeel's comments and went along with him anyways; he was her most powerful ally at the moment, and there was no real reason to screw that up right now. What they were about to face in saving Kyousuke was far more difficult than they would've thought; just what is really going on here?


	13. Chapter 13: Space-Time Battle

**A/N: Hey, it's been a little bit since my last update. Things have been busy lately so I am trying to put it out when I can (and when I have the motivation for it). Anyways, here is Chapter 13, enjoy :)**

 _ **Chapter 13: Space-Time**_ **Battle**

Kyousuke awoke to find himself alone, again, in a large black room of nothingness. Slowly coming to his senses, he got up and looked around, trying to make sense of where he was at. Before he could, however, he suddenly heard something in front of him.

"Look at you," Kyousuke heard. He looked up in front of him to see himself. He was staring straight at him, having a sort of smug expression on his face. "You're pathetic, it's no wonder that you're stuck in this situation."

"...what?" Kyousuke questioned, unsure of how to respond before his other self continued on.

"No matter what you do you will always lose; you weren't meant to win this game Kyousuke. Why can't you just admit it; not even miracles can help you."

"What are you talking about?" Kyousuke questioned, not sure how to take it as his other self just laughed at him. Suddenly, the scene changed, and Kyousuke found himself standing amongst a giant field of grass. He looked around in surprise, not sure what to make of it. Already perplexed as it is, Kyousuke walked ahead on the grassy fields that were present, moving until he came across a familiar sight. He stopped and stared as he saw the commotion.

"STOP! Leave him alone! You're going too far!" Roxanne shouted, standing there as the commotion took place. Here she was younger and happened to be wearing a green dress. Roxanne stood there crying helplessly, unsure of what to do. Soon Kyousuke remembered what was going on and realized that this was a mere memory of his past. They were outside of the school in the grass, and he got into a fight with a few bratty kids in the school. However, when Kyousuke got into fight's he couldn't control his anger. He saw himself on top of some random kid, punching him in the face repeatedly. There were two other guys there that had run away, already having been beat up by Kyousuke and too afraid to do anything. The other kid obviously was the one who led this whole thing; Kyousuke just kept beating down on him, he couldn't stop. Why should he? After all, nothing else felt better than being able to just destroy someone and break them down completely. Not even the sight of the other kid bleeding out from the nose with two black eyes was enough to stop him.

"You felt like you had so much power then, didn't you?" A distorted voice said. Kyousuke suddenly felt chills go down his spine; it was the same distorted voice that Kyousuke woke up screaming from before. As fear clung to him like a virus, Kyousuke turned around to see the thing, but couldn't find it anywhere, focusing his attention back on the scenario as the voice further spoke. "It was the only time you could unleash the anger you built up inside, take it out on the world who rejected you." The voice further explained. As the situation went on, Roxanne ran over to Kyousuke in tears and tried to pull him away. She managed to pull Kyousuke off the guy he was beating up, who was knocked out cold on the ground from Kyousuke's endless barrage. In that instance, Kyousuke got up and started to walk away, Roxanne soon running after him.

"Wait!" She shouted though Kyousuke didn't listen. He wanted none of it.

"Leave me alone,"

"But I wanted to tell you..."

"GO AWAY!" Kyousuke snapped, turning around at her and staring her dead in the eyes. She stood there in shock, arms by her sides with nothing to say back. Roxanne could see the anger and hate in his eyes; there was so much of it. It was poisonous, infecting everyone else like some kind of deadly virus. Nobody talked to him because of it; everyone avoided him like the plague. As Roxanne stood there and stared, Kyousuke sighed, turned around and started walking away again. "Leave me alone; I already have enough problems to deal with, I don't need more," Kyousuke told her, walking away as she stood there speechless. Roxanne didn't do anything but stare as Kyousuke walked away, watching him leave the school and head off. Kyousuke remembered everything that happened and exactly how it went down; watching it over again only brought up deep feelings he had buried down deep inside him for so long.

"You held so much hatred within you that you couldn't even see those who were trying to help you." The voice reminded him. Kyousuke felt somewhat regretful because of it, but that didn't change anything. Before he could let his feelings swallow him up, the scene changed, and things took a turn for the worst.

"What's interesting about you is your deep-seated attachments Kyousuke. Even in the most unrealistic of circumstances you still managed to keep her around despite how you treated her."

"What are you getting at? Why does this even matter to you?" Kyousuke spat at the voice, unable to figure out what it was trying to do. It just kept on going, however, chuckling at Kyousuke's frustration.

"You're so predictable; the minute a fantasy becomes reality you cling onto it like there is nothing else you need." The voice explained, suddenly taking Kyousuke into a scenario with him in his room. Here it was after he had gotten beat by his parents for the fights he had been getting into at school. He could hear his father screaming at him from downstairs, threatening his safety and telling him to stay put and not come out. Kyousuke could see himself curled up on his bed, crying painfully. He remembered this vividly too, and everything that he spoke of with it. The feelings of helplessness and despair quickly crawled back through him.

"Why was I even born? I don't want to be here anymore; I hate my life! Nobody likes me; everyone hates me and wishes I was gone. Why does it have to be like this?! It's not fair!" He cried to himself, curled up within himself. Kyousuke remembered everything that happened, except for one particular thing that he had forgotten about strangely enough.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten everything; the very thing you clung onto despite what happened." The voice reminded him. At that moment, Kyousuke went up to himself to see what he had forgotten about at that moment. Upon further examination, he discerned the truth of the matter.

He was clinging onto a Gajeel Redfox doll in that very moment.

"Don't you get it now?" The voice said, Kyousuke turning around as he came face-to-face with Gajeel himself in his X791 outfit. However, the voice spoke through Gajeel to Kyousuke as it went on. Kyousuke couldn't hold back the tears as he was overcome with painful sadness. "You are obsessed with him; throughout it all, you so desperately wanted to believe that there was something else out there, and all along you were right. However, to think that this all was because of him..."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Kyousuke angrily shouted, putting his hands on his head as he started crying. "What do you want from me?! Why don't you just leave me alone?! GO AWAY!" Kyousuke yelled, breaking down as he couldn't bear the reality of it. He even remembered everything that he said in those moments.

"Maybe if he existed I wouldn't be in this situation anymore."

"I know you're out there somewhere, even if nobody else believes it."

"I would give up everything just to get away from this place. Take me there instead."

"I wish I could just talk to you, maybe you would understand why I'm suffering," Kyousuke continuously remembered. The voice just continued.

"You can't run away from the truth Kyousuke. You're afraid of being rejected, you're terrified of him ignoring you, you fear him denying you what you are looking for. You can't stand the thought of him treating you like dirt because you've already clung onto him like a magnet. You've become dependent on him; without him, you wouldn't have gotten this far. That is an undeniable fact." The voice explained. Kyousuke couldn't take much more; he was already down on the ground, curled up. He held Gajeel in such high regard that it became an unrealistic fantasy; an obsession that could be easily destroyed with a single word. As Kyousuke cried, a blue substance started crawling up through Kyousuke's body, sinking into his skin as if it was taking him over. It was the same strange blue magic that Kyousuke saw impale Gajeel in his last nightmare, but this time it was seeping into him. "I know you better than you know yourself Kyousuke; I've been with you from the start. Gajeel isn't here to help you now; if you don't trust me now, you will die..."

* * *

Elsewhere, Gajeel and Roxanne raided the large base in search of Kyousuke. The two were blind to what was going on in the midst of that hunt. The new location of the lab guy was revealed. He was in a large laboratory with machinery, giant glass containers and all sorts of other scientific tools. The room had a strange reddish hue to it that glowed from all the equipment. The guy from earlier was inside of the room sitting on an office chair of sorts next to the machinery in the place, which controlled the tubes full of water. He had purple hair that was pulled back into a ponytail that went down, having a purple goatee and purple eyes. He had a longer head along with a longer nose, always having some kind of sinister expression glued to his face while in his white lab-coat. His name was Dr. Namulus Evolutionus Maximus, but because that is far too complex to say every time someone addressed him, he goes by Dr. Evo for short. As he sat there staring at the equipment with thoughts running through his head, agent XG231 came in the room with an urgent message.

"Sir, it seems that two intruders, Gajeel Redfox, and Roxanne Laurel have been detected in the building. What do you want us to do about it?" He requested. Dr. Evo sat back in his chair as he gave the agent a mischevious look.

"You don't need to do anything." He replied, confusing XG231.

"What do you mean by that sir?" XG231 questioned in response. Evo stroked his goatee as he thought over the scenario at hand.

"They may be powerful opponents, especially Mr. Redfox and his blasted Iron Dragon Slaying Magic, but luckily I have the advantage. Time is not on their side as far as I'm concerned." He explained. Evo turned his focus to one of the water tubes in the room, it is activated as the air was circulating throughout the system. Inside that particular tube was Kyousuke found, sitting in there unconsciously floating in suspended animation. Dr. Evo stared at Kyousuke in the cell and smirked, convinced that everything was in his favor. "Let's see how long it takes them to save their precious friend before time runs out."

* * *

Speaking of which, Gajeel and Roxanne were running through the base trying to get to Kyousuke's location, which wasn't going to be a breeze in these circumstances. Roxanne was trying to keep up with Gajeel, who was moving pretty fast as it was. It seemed like he wasn't going to waste any time trying to get to Kyousuke; you could tell it in his eyes. This was important to him, and he was determined to get to him no matter what. Roxanne, on the other hand, was also determined but found herself caught up in everything that had happened earlier. It felt as if she went into some kind of panic that she couldn't even handle, so much so that Gajeel couldn't take her seriously. It felt insulting to get lectured by Gajeel in that way, but in her eyes, she was just going to have to prove to him otherwise.

 _"I don't understand; I've never ever felt this kind of fear before. Never in my life have I felt something so terrifying, and yet Gajeel thinks I just can't handle this kind of situation."_ Roxanne thought to herself, closely eying Gajeel as she kept up with him. Neither of them had any idea where they were, but Roxanne felt it was best to trust in Gajeel's instincts and let him lead the way. It gave her time to think about this whole thing, and how they should act on it. "So you think this is the right way?"

"How the hell should I know?" Gajeel spat, embarrassing Roxanne somewhat.

 _"Wow, did I really just ask him that?"_ Roxanne thought to herself embarrassed.

"Wherever the hell he is, I ain't wasting any time getting to him. Who knows what the hell they could be doing to him." Gajeel explained. Roxanne understood his stance. The longer they stood around, the worse Kyousuke's situation could get. They didn't have the time to wait. As they ran through the maze that the building was, they eventually came across an open area in the building. Up ahead was a bridge that closed the gap between the two doors in the area, floating above a massive drop. That wasn't the issue though; up ahead was a glowing white portal like the one Gajeel and Kyousuke escaped through the last time, and this time they weren't alone.

"Aww, looks like company finally showed up!" A rough female voice said in amusement. In front of the two were four people, seemingly wizards of some kind, waiting for the two of them and staring them down. Gajeel spat at the idea.

"Well, what do you know, a bunch of wizards to beat the living snot out of! I'm gonna enjoy this," Gajeel exclaimed.

"Don't get cocky metal-head, you have no idea what you're dealing with here. I know all about you Gajeel Redfox, and the girl too. This is going to be fun for the four of us," The same female wizard stated.

The four wizards all wore the same attire as the lab-guy the two had already faced. One of them was a female with long, messy grey hair and darting grey eyes, almost having a tom-boyish sort of appearance. This female happened to be the one who commented on their arrival. Another was a female with short pink hair (in a bob cut) and sparkling pink eyes. She seemed to be the fashionista of the group as she had tons of makeup on like pink nail-polish, mascara, and eye-liner along with other aesthetics. Then there were two guys, both with the most shocking appearance.

"Those two guys look like twins almost," Roxanne thought aloud, Gajeel listening as she explained quietly. "The only thing is...there's just something about them I can't put my finger on." She further explained. They had shorter, spiky hair that was Kyousuke's color-tone but had a more rugged build, and a darker skin tone like Gajeel's. It was strange, not to mention that they both had one eye missing with a giant scar through it, one of them being their left eye and the other their right eye. Whatever sort of coincidences they could identify, the situation wasn't getting better, and the two didn't have the time to deal with these people. "This is just what we need right now, great!" Roxanne commented sarcastically.

"Hey, what are you whispering about over there," The same female commented, catching Roxanne's attention as the two focused on her, she had a grin similar to Gajeel's "If you've got something to say let's all hear it then!"

"What's between us is none of your business!" Roxanne states aloud, requipping her scythe as the other female raised a brow in curiosity.

"Oh, is that so?" She stated, quietly pulling out a large ax that was on her back. It was a long silver one that she had been carrying the entire time, and it seemed like now was when she was going to use it. "I hate girls who keep secrets from me!" She shouted, swinging the ax at the two as Roxanne jumped out with her scythe, blocking the attack with the handle and pushing it up out of the way, following up with a swing of her own. The other female leaned back and dodged the attack, swinging her ax at Roxanne from the bottom up. Roxanne back-flipped out of the way as the ax flew up in the air, spinning as the female went for it, grabbing it and aiming for Gajeel with a downward slash.

"Gajeel! Watch out, she's coming for you!" Roxanne alerted, watching as the female came straight down onto Gajeel with the attack. Precisely when she did, Gajeel blocked the blade with his arm. She flew off the ax from the momentum as Gajeel grabbed it in turn. The female managed to land a few feet away from Gajeel, unable to express her shock. Her face was full of disbelief, as was the other female wizard who happened to be watching.

"What's the matter; didn't expect that did you?" Gajeel questioned in amusement, staring the female down as she had a look of shock glued to her face. She didn't know what to say.

"What...how the hell did you..."

"I thought you were supposed to know who I was; they don't call me Black Steel Gajeel for nothin'," Gajeel stated casually, taking a chunk out of the ax and eating it. He tossed it back to her when she was done. The girl grabbed it and stared at it, being almost disturbed by it. The other female wizard watching seemed to be impressed by the whole thing; the twins kept silent.

"Interesting, so he can turn into metal, but he also can ingest it. I must say, what a curious turn of events." The other female explained, watching as Gajeel chewed the metal and ingested it. He shook his head in disgust as a result.

"Man, that was nasty, where the hell did you get that thing?!" Gajeel spat in disgust. The girl with the ax stood there in embarrassment, unsure of what to say about it.

"Uh...I made it." She said as Gajeel spat in disgust. She was almost offended by it. "Maybe you shouldn't be eating metal then metal-head. Who eats metal anyway; that sounds pretty gross to me."

"I've tasted better metal than this crap; you call that an ax?!" Gajeel spat, annoying the female as Roxanne soon jumped in.

"Who the hell cares?! Gajeel, go ahead and do something!" Roxanne shouted, annoying Gajeel as he got on with it.

"Can it kid; I can handle this myself!" Gajeel exclaimed. With that he suddenly took a deep breath in, preparing for his next attack. The other four wizards knew what was about to go down and went to defend against it. Within a matter of seconds, Gajeel went ahead and blasted them all with his Iron Dragon's Roar, tearing everything to shreds as the four wizards were engulfed in the blast. Within seconds, they were wiped out with that single attack, leaving them unable to react. It was within that short frame of time; that was their chance to make a move.

"Let's go kid!" Gajeel alerted Roxanne, following him as they had to get somewhere. The door ahead was blocked off by the white portal they saw so they would have no choice but to go on through it. The two leaped into the portal and vanished from the area, successfully making their escape. It wasn't long before the other wizards got up after the dust settled, seeing that the two were gone and no longer in their reach. With that, the rugged female grit her teeth in frustration, punching the wall angrily as they failed their task.

'Ugh, I can't believe I let this happen!" She shouted angrily, turning to the other three in frustration. "They could be anywhere in this building! Spread out and find them; we can't have them getting in Dr. Evo's way!" She commanded. With that the other three took off, everyone taking their own separate ways. If Gajeel and Roxanne got to Dr. Evo before they could stop them, that was bad news for them. It was a race against time not just for Gajeel and Roxanne, but for them as well.

In a dark, dusty old area was another portal like the one the two had just gone through. The room was run down, old, and had junk just laying around covered in dust and dirt. Suddenly, Roxanne found herself coming out of the portal into this place. Her attention was immediately caught by all the old equipment all over the room, trying to make sense of where she was at.

"What the heck is this place?" Roxanne questioned, looking around as she tried figuring it out. As she did so, she turned around to see if Gajeel was with her. He wasn't, he was nowhere to be found. "Gajeel?! Gajeel! Are you down here?!" Roxanne shouted to no avail. It was clear that he wasn't there with her, and this would only complicate things as she saw it. "That's just great; we must've got split up because of the portal," Roxanne stated, pulling her fingers through her hair as she tried to make sense of where she was. It looked like a run-down lab; there were all kinds of laboratory equipment and a bed with metal straps for strapping people down. Roxanne walked around the lab-bed, analyzing it and everything in the room, trying to put the pieces together in her head. _"It looks like some kind of old laboratory that was used here. The only question is for what?"_ Roxanne thought to herself as she observed the area. She wondered why this place was here and if it had anything to do with Kyousuke's past, but she didn't have enough information to come to a conclusion. Looking around the room on the right side of it, she eventually saw a door within the room with a window to peer inside. Roxanne approached the door, peering in through the glass window to see an office desk and multiple filing cabinets inside. Seeing that was enough. Luckily, the door was unlocked so she had no trouble getting inside.

Opening the door and heading in, she went straight for the filing cabinets, each of them being organized alphabetically. She went for the first filing cabinet (letters A-D) and started going through the contents.

 _"Project DSP, if there's anything on Project DSP maybe I can figure something out."_ Roxanne thought to herself. As she pulled out folders under the letter D, some files happened to fall out of the cabinet onto the floor. Roxanne looked down to see that one of them was a picture of someone. She went to take a closer look at the picture. "Wait a minute..." She said, picking out familiarities in the picture. There were too many connections, blonde hair with blue eyes and a bleak look. "This was Kyousuke when he was younger!" Roxanne said aloud, digging into the folder to find as much information as possible. In mere seconds she pulled out documents concerning Project DSP, quickly going through them. "Oh my gosh, I actually found the data on Kyousuke's past!" Roxanne shouted with excitement. She just hit the jackpot; everything about Project DSP and Kyousuke's involvement in it was in these files. "With these documents, I can finally solve this dreaded mystery and put an end to this nightmare!"

As that happened, Dr. Evo remained in his lab while this whole thing went down. Sitting next to the control console while sitting in his office chair, he calmly watched Kyousuke in suspended animation. It was as if Kyousuke being in suspended animation was a fascinating thing to watch; he seemed to take particular pleasure in it. If anything he was a little too relaxed, but he was convinced that everything was going to go according to plan. He put his hands together in satisfaction, turning to XG-231 and engaging in a conversation with him, despite them having been silent this whole time.

"Do you know just how frustrating it was to have to go through all this trouble, just to put him in a large tube full of water that allows for him to be in suspended animation?" Dr. Evo questioned. XG-231 just silently shook his head in question; his wording also threw him off. Dr. Evo threw his hands in the air as he explained it. "It was so much work; Kyousuke is a frustrating one. Through all of the years, he's always been too stubborn for his own good. When I had found out that he had tried to run away again I honestly wasn't surprised; I was convinced that such was going to happen. The real shock came in when I heard that Gajeel Redfox was in the picture," Dr. Evo explained. Whether XG-231 was listening or not, Dr. Evo just took off and never came back. It was a nightmare having to listen in the first place, it would never end. "The idea of a fictional character existing in the real world is beyond fascination. I have never witnessed the concept of such in my entire life. Not only the mere fact that he exists but him managing to do so in a separate timeline in parallel with the fictional material itself! Not to mention that out of anyone he gets himself involved in Kyousuke's circumstances. If you think about it, it almost seems as if fate itself caused this to happen. However, as a scientist, I am bound to believe that there is a scientific explanation for this as well." Dr. Evo explained, having just gone full-on into it. As he went on, suddenly a white portal appeared next to XG-231, and it was within seconds that he was knocked out by an Iron Dragon's Club from the gateway. Before Dr. Evo could have a chance to react, he locked eyes with Gajeel, who stared him down like he was prey.

"Well look who it is, I'm gonna have fun teaching you a lesson," Gajeel said, slowly approaching him with his Iron Dragon's Sword. He was ready, and he planned out his method of attack. Dr. Evo, however, put an end to it before he could initiate it.

"I wouldn't go through this console if I were you; you might end up killing Kyousuke in the process."

"What?!" Gajeel said in shock, immediately stopping as he held his Iron Dragon's Sword. Dr. Evo smirked, still feeling a sense of control in the situation.

"I'm surprised, I must give you congrats on being able to get to me so quickly," Dr. Evo applauded, clapping in the process. "Oh, it looks like you came here without Roxanne," he further added on, distracting him. Gajeel looked around to realize that Roxanne wasn't with her. However, Gajeel immediately spotted Kyousuke in one of the tubes unconsciously floating. He focused his attention on Dr. Evo, aiming to pry the answers out of him.

"What the hell are you doing with him?" Gajeel questioned sternly. Roxanne would have to wait; he assumed that they must've split up due to the portal. Dr. Evo seemed to have quite a carefree attitude, despite the circumstances.

"You seem quite angry, though there's not much you can do here."

"Shut the hell up and start talking!" Gajeel yelled angrily, he definitely wasn't in the mood for games. This prompted Dr. Evo to continue.

"If you must know, Kyousuke isn't going to be genetically altered or modified in any way, shape, or form. However, he is being examined and documented as we speak, as well as being cloned." Dr. Evo explained, putting Gajeel in shock.

"You're making a clone of him?!" Gajeel questioned in shock. Dr. Evo continued on.

"It's quite simple; plus far more efficient than using the original. Plus, with a clone, my plans are far more likely to take off, and I can finally complete something I've been waiting to get for so long." Dr. Evo explained. Gajeel closely watched him as Dr. Evo looked at his nails while he went on. "I would've made a clone of you too if I had the chance, but you're a far more difficult catch that Kyousuke could ever be."

"You bastard..." Gajeel spat in frustration, watching as Dr. Evo cackled right before him.

"You can't do anything about it, and once this is over everything will fall into place; I won't need the brat anymore." Dr. Evo explained, merely chuckling at the idea of it. "Thought you could play hero and save him this time, did you? Well, it's too bad, once this is complete there is nothing you can do to stop me!" He exclaimed proudly. In the midst of his exclamation, Gajeel ran up and attempted to cut straight through him while avoiding the console, only for Dr. Evo to swiftly dodge the attack by jumping back. Gajeel charged at him in response, aiming to take him out with a fist to the face. However, he missed as Dr. Evo quickly ducked backward, dodging Gajeel's punch. Gajeel front-flipped over Dr. Evo, landing behind him and coming back with another Iron Dragon's Sword. "Too late," Dr. Evo commented. Before he knew it, Dr. Evo disappeared right in front of Gajeel's eyes.

"What the hell?!" He stuttered, shocked by the recent turn of events. Within an instant, Dr. Evo appeared behind Gajeel, coming in with and aiming straight for the face. Gajeel was fast enough to guard against the punch with his right arm, not expecting such a counter. However, he soon gained the advantage, easily overpowering Dr. Evo. He quickly went for him and grabbed him by the torso, twisting his shirt and pulling him for a follow-up knockout punch. Coming in with his left arm, aimed straight for his face, Gajeel was able to hit him hard enough to send him flying across the room, grinning in his success. However, within seconds Dr. Evo suddenly vanished within thin air, quickly putting Gajeel into shock again. He immediately turned around to see Dr. Evo heading straight for him with a downward kick to the face. Reacting in time, Gajeel guarded against him and was sent flying back, sliding across the ground until he came to a stop, holding both arms up in an x-formation. He lowered his arms and focused on Dr. Evo, having a better idea of what he was really up against.

"Didn't expect that, did you?" Dr. Evo commented, to which Gajeel snickered. "I expected no less from you."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much? I'm sick of hearing your crap!" Gajeel yelled, attacking him once more with an Iron Dragon's Club, yet getting the same reaction. Dr. Evo just teleported out of the way of his attack, teleporting directly to him and staring him right in the face.

"You can't win, just give it up already." Dr. Evo calmly stated, hitting Gajeel with a downward kick to the face. Within mere seconds he quickly followed up with an uppercut to the chin, hurling Gajeel up in the air as he swiftly appeared behind him. He did a round-house kick to the back and sent Gajeel flying down to the ground, him flipping over a couple times before landing right on his feet. Sliding back with a hand on the ground, Gajeel realized what he was really going up against. He didn't like the feeling one bit, but things quickly changed when something else was introduced to the mix.

"The cellular data has been successfully copied, moving on to the final stage of the cloning process." A computerized voice stated, catching their attention.

"Looks like victory is already in my hands," Dr. Evo stated calmly. He acted as if nothing could stop him at this point; Gajeel had to figure something out. Another one of the test tubes in the room started oxidizing and was being used for the final stage of the process. Within a matter of seconds, Gajeel went to attack again with another Iron Dragon's Club, however, as before, the same thing happened once again. However, this was his intention; the minute Dr. Evo appeared behind Gajeel, he took the opportunity to send him flying towards the other tube, propelling him into it with an Iron Dragon's Club. By doing this Gajeel could prevent the creation of the clone without harming Kyousuke. Dr. Evo flew straight into the test tube, shattering the outside glass to bits as he landed onto the other side of the tubing. The alarms went off, signaling an error in the process and signaling Gajeel's success.

"Did you really think you were gonna beat me with that stupid trick?" Gajeel questioned with a grin, approaching the broken tube as he popped his knuckles. However, things took a massively different turn as he listened in to what was said of the error.

"Stabilization process incomplete. WARNING: the clone will be prone to physical instability; beware of cellular deterioration." The computerized voice alerted, sending Gajeel into disbelief.

"What?! You've gotta be kidding me?!" He said in shock, prompting Dr. Evo to laugh in response as she slowly got up from Gajeel's attack.

"I told you it was useless, you should've listened the first time around. " Dr. Evo stated, holding his arm as he got up and watched. Within a matter of seconds, the two saw the clone develop right before them, coming out as a blue liquid (much like the fluid in Kyousuke's nightmares) and morphing into a human figure. It took on Kyousuke's form, looking like him in a blue, liquid hue. It had bright white eyes in Kyousuke's eye shape and had no other prominent physical features. It was in this moment that Gajeel realized the danger that was approaching. There was only one real problem...

"Is that supposed to be Kyousuke?" Gajeel uttered in alarm. He couldn't believe what he was seeing; is this really a clone of him? He didn't understand why the clone seemed so inhuman and abnormal. The real question is, who is Kyousuke Watanabe?


	14. Chapter 14: Kyousuke Watanabe

**Chapter _14: Kyousuke Watanabe_**

Right before their eyes was the mystery that had been in their reach all of this time. A blue, humanoid creature that took Kyousuke's form stood there trying to become aware of its surroundings, coming to terms with where it was. It looked around analyzing the room like an animal while Gajeel and Dr. Evo stood there and watched the creature. Gajeel was unsure of what to do next as Dr. Evo scanned the clone from top to bottom. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Dr. Evo claimed he was cloning Kyousuke earlier, but as much as Gajeel tried to put it together, it just wasn't adding up.

"Whatever the hell it is, it isn't Kyousuke." Gajeel calmly stated, looking at the thing in shock and slight disbelief as Dr. Evo chuckled in response. It only took his shape, it didn't even act like him or seem human in any way. For a clone, it wasn't anything like Gajeel imagined, but Dr. Evo didn't seem to agree.

"It's clear that you don't really know him as well as you think you do," Dr. Evo explained, catching his attention as Gajeel pressed for answers.

"What the hell are you saying?" Gajeel questioned, clenching his fists as he wanted answers. However, things took a turn for the worst as the clone went after the two of them out of the blue. It went straight for Dr. Evo and attempted to grab him by stretching its arm straight out for him, only for Dr. Evo to vanish out of thin air as he did with Gajeel earlier. It was as if the clone had infinite elasticity; it could stretch out and morph into virtually anything. At the same time, the clone held up a hand towards Gajeel and fired a plasma beam from it, aiming to target Gajeel as he rolled to his right and dodged the attack. In turn, he tried attacking it with a direct hit from his Iron Dragon's Club, successfully hitting it. However, the creature suddenly morphed into a sort of liquid, attaching to his Iron Dragon's Club and sliding down it straight for him.

"What the hell is this thing?!" Gajeel spat in shock. In that instant, Gajeel realized the incoming danger and immediately retracted his Iron Dragon's Club, only for it to still get to him and bind him down. Suddenly, wrapped up in the liquid as it covered his body except for his upper torso and up, Gajeel found himself slowly coming to a halt. As he tried to pull it off of him, his hands went through it like some sort of liquid, the clone slowly wrapping itself around Gajeel. It could materialize into any form it needed; nothing he did stopped it from wrapping itself around him and binding him in place. "Dammit, I can't get it off of me!"

"That's the nature of the being, looks like you fell for it." Dr. Evo explained. He acted as if the process of binding itself around Gajeel and immobilizing him was perfectly normal. He only watched as it bound Gajeel enough to make him fall to the ground on his right side, struggling in the liquid as his arms were restrained by it. The liquid slowly crawled up against him as he fought in it in frustration; Dr. Evo watched it happen as if it was bound to. "You only have yourself to blame; if it wasn't for you interrupting the process, it could've been a perfect clone. Now the clone has been structurally unstable, and therefore it's much more difficult to control." He further explained. Gajeel could only look back in frustration as the clone soon hardened, leaving Gajeel on the ground stuck inside of the structure. In the process of doing so, it split itself from Gajeel, going straight for Dr. Evo as it flew across the ground like some living liquid. Dr. Evo had to play his cards well against it, as he could only teleport to so many locations, and the clone was going after him as well. As that ensued, Gajeel struggled to free himself from the hardened clone. Nothing he could do would help; he found himself helplessly fighting against the inevitable.

"Dammit, I don't have time to deal with this! Get this crap off of me!" Gajeel yelled, trying to break through it by any means possible, to no avail. He rolled around, tried using brute force, nothing. Surprisingly enough, it didn't try to kill him, it just immobilized him. Whether or not this was intentional is unknown, however, as it still went after Gajeel in the first place. As he helplessly struggled, the clone soon managed to get ahold of Dr. Evo, taking advantage of his teleportation by being in the right place at the right moment. It grabbed him by the leg as he slipped and fell to the ground, struggling against it as it pulled him up and left him dangling upside-down. Dr. Evo kicked about in frustration as he couldn't teleport away from it now. Gajeel watched as he realized he wasn't its only target, and maybe it wasn't trying to kill them.

"You put me down this instant! You're only here because of me! I am your master, you listen to me this instant!" Dr. Evo yelled in a desperate attempt. It picked him up and covered him in the same substance, analyzing Dr. Evo in its human form as it stared at him while holding him up. Even while holding him up the liquid form wrapped around him and bound him up too, making it impossible for Dr. Evo to escape. Gajeel watched the strange phenomena ensue and realized that this wasn't what Dr. Evo had in mind.

"It kind of looks like him, but it acts nothing like him. It can't even function normally; how the hell is that supposed to be Kyousuke?!" Gajeel questioned, unable to piece it all together. A simple error in the cloning process couldn't have possibly made this big of a change in his structure. Despite being stuck on the ground, he focused on the creature as it analyzed Dr. Evo, watching the doctor struggle while it looked at him from multiple angles. It was like watching a baby play with a new toy; it was trying to understand it. It even took the doctor and shook him up and down too.

Upon further watching the creature, he realized something that was crucial to this moment. _"Wait a minute, this ain't the first time I've seen it,"_ Gajeel remembered. He realized that it was the same strange substance that came out of Kyousuke when he had been blasted with the shotgun, and it also was prevalent when Kyousuke flew into his rage back when they were caught the first time around. He also remembered something else...

 _"I've had similar nightmares for years Gajeel; this has been going on my entire life. Dreams of this blue creature trying to kill me and going on about being trapped and restrained in some way. I don't even know why."_ He remembered Kyousuke saying. Seeing this clone here, it looked exactly the description Kyousuke gave. At that moment everything just clicked.

 _"That thing came from inside of him, but how did it get there in the first place?"_ Gajeel questioned, unable to figure out why. Seeing Dr. Evo in his helpless state, Gajeel knew that it was now or never. "I have to get the hell out of this thing and get to the control console before he has a chance to stop me," Gajeel decided, trying to take advantage of the situation. However, he still couldn't get himself unstuck from the substance. "What the hell is this thing made of?!"

"Condensed ethernano composite combined with a physical form. I'd be genuinely surprised if you had the strength to break out of it Iron Dragon Slayer." Dr. Evo commented, dealing with the creature shaking him from side to side as he talked. He felt increasingly nauseous as the creature toyed with him, already having trouble with being upside-down the whole time. However, he gave away the answer to breaking out of it in his comment.

 _"That moron just told me how to break out of this,"_ Gajeel though to himself. He had to resort to another method, and luckily Dr. Evo gave him the perfect idea for it. He equipped his Iron Dragon Scales, trying to force himself through the matter by counteracting it with his own magic power. Luckily, it worked in his favor; he broke out of the liquid's strong bond and went straight for the console. In the process of doing so, the substance materialized at the right time to burn his right arm, leaving a strange burn mark on him. It hurt, but he ignored the pain it caused as he had only one objective on his mind. As he shattered through the hard-substance, it quickly reverted to the liquid form it had previously and returned to the clone with Dr. Evo, whose attention was on Gajeel as the latter went for the console. Dr. Evo saw his attempts and furiously yelled out in response.

"Stay away from that console Gajeel, you don't know how to operate it!" He yelled out angrily, "make one wrong move and you'll end his life! You don't want to be the one who kills him, do you?!"

"Shut the hell up!" Gajeel shouted, racing for the console and completely ignoring everything he was saying. When he made it to the console, Gajeel was quickly overwhelmed by the number of input commands on the console. "What the...how the hell am I supposed to operate this?!" Gajeel spat in frustration. Multiple keys were numbers, letters, and other key-codes that functioned like a DOS prompt. Seeing the console only frustrated him more; he had to make a choice now. Dr. Evo recognized his stress, watching from afar as the clone dropped Dr. Evo and went for Gajeel.

"You'll never figure it out! Just give up; you'll never free him!" Dr. Evo exclaimed, getting up from the ground as the clone went for Gajeel. He pulled out a strange black device out from inside his lab-coat, waiting for the right time to use it. In the short amount of time that took place, the clone instantly went straight for Gajeel as Dr. Evo aimed the device at the clone. Gajeel, within mere seconds, quickly hit the "EJECT" command on the console, which seemed like the most appropriate thing to do at the time.

"Ejecting Stabilization Tubes, all contents are being withdrawn from the experiment. After this process the lab will enter a hibernation state, please be aware. You will be unable to use the Stabilization Tubes for approximately 24 hours." A robotic voice announced, ejecting the tubes as they each were drained and discarded. As that ensued, Dr. Evo used the black object to capture the clone, firing a white beam at the clone that completely vaporized it from thin air, entering the device he had in hand. Regardless of whatever objective Dr. Evo had achieved, Gajeel managed to figure out how to free Kyousuke, turning around and watching as he fell out of one of the test-tubes he was being held in, hitting the ground while still being unconscious. Gajeel saw him lying on the ground and went straight for him, only to be stopped by Dr. Evo, standing in front of him playing with the device in hand.

"If you think I'll let you off that easily, you're mistaken. I don't let my enemies run away that easily, especially not someone like you Gajeel." Dr. Evo commented with a confident look. Gajeel stood there with a focused and stern look on his face, determined to get something out of him.

"Don't think I'm done with you yet," Gajeel alerted him, "I wanna know why you're acting like you know him so well. Wherever the hell that clone came from, it's living inside of Kyousuke, and you're the one behind it."

"Well then," Dr. Evo said in amusement, looking at his nails again (must be a habit of his), "I must say that I'm impressed. It's no wonder why you're reputable for being Fairy Tail's renowned investigator and undercover spy if I must say so myself."

"Dammit, quit rambling and just get to the point!" Gajeel spat in irritation, bumping his fists together as Dr. Evo sighed in response.

"Not to mention you also have quite the temper; no one ever wants to listen to me just talk..." He said depressingly. "Though if you think you're getting that kind of information out of me, then think again!" He shouted.

"I'm gonna enjoy beating the crap out of you, pathetic scumbag." Gajeel aggressively warned, giving him a death-stare that one wouldn't forget. Dr. Evo could see the intensity and anger in his eyes; there was no mistaking them. Gajeel wasn't about to tolerate anything Dr. Evo had in store. However, just before things got started, it all took a dramatic turn. The two heard someone come out of the portal Gajeel came in from and focused their attention on the portal. With impeccable timing, Roxanne made it back to where Gajeel and Dr. Evo were, and it wasn't just to say hello. She had a bunch of documents in her hands, which she immediately tossed in front of Dr. Evo. He stood there and stared at them, Gajeel doing the same as Roxanne interrupted.

"I finally found you Dr. Evo, or should I say Dr. Namulus Evolutionus." Roxanne declared, catching his attention as he observed the documents. They were the documents associated with Project DSP, something Dr. Evo was almost surprised to see.

"Ahh, early documentation regarding Project DSP, where did you find that?"

"In your old run-down laboratory; you used it to perform experiments on Kyousuke!" Roxanne exploited, baffling Gajeel and exposing Dr. Evo as he clapped his hands.

"What the hell...you've been experimenting on him?!" Gajeel shouted in shock, Dr. Evo clapping as he went forth.

"Ahh, it looks like you're finally getting somewhere. I wonder; have you figured out what's really been going on with Kyousuke? I must say, you aren't undeserving of your status as a government spy." Dr. Evo complimented, to which Roxanne ignored and continued.

"It was July 7th of 2010, an 11-year-old child was brought into that laboratory as an experimental subject for a new artificial culmination of ethernano into a biological weapon," Roxanne explained, further surprising Gajeel as he listened on and let it work itself out. "It was a test to materialize Ethernano into a physical form, and possibly test it in militarized zones for use in combat. You've experimented on him with substances that can alter his own genetics and DNA!"

"That experiment was nothing but a complete disaster. Kyousuke was the perfect candidate for the test, but it ended in failure. The goal was to combine the mutated ethernano material into him and combine it with his own genetic structure, but the test failed and instead resulted in the substance using his body as a host. It now lives inside of him, feeding off of him and using him to survive." Dr. Evo further explained, surprising both of them.

"Don't tell me that thing has been inside of him for seven years," Gajeel concluded, to which Dr. Evo nodded in response. Roxanne wasn't aware of what they were talking about, but Dr. Evo continued on regardless.

"It would've killed him otherwise; the substance feeds off of living organisms; the only way to remove it is to have it kill the host. Even I can't remove it without letting it kill him in the process." Dr. Evo explained. Roxanne only got more upset the more she heard it.

"You monster! How can you treat him like some kind of guinea pig?! He doesn't deserve any of this!" Roxanne shouted out, only for Dr. Evo to chuckle in response.

"People are nothing but subjects to me, subjects for my experiments and my ways of gaining strength and intelligence. He happened to be the perfect subject for my biggest goal, the ultimate living being. I can turn him into the most powerful military weapon I need, and if I really wanted to I could do the same to the both of you too," He further explained. He had no regard for other's emotions or feelings; all that mattered to him was achieving his goals and using humans as scientific subjects. Not only was it bothering Roxanne, but it also grated at Gajeel the more he heard about it. Hearing him talk about people that way on top of what he did to Kyousuke only pissed him off more and more.

"You rotten scumbag." Gajeel spat, clenching his fists as Dr. Evo only looked at him in amusement. "You don't care what happens to him; he's just another toy to you. He's suffered hell because of you and your stupid experiments."

"Exactly, and that's all he ever will be to me," He commented, aggravating Gajeel. Roxanne, however, interrupted and continued on with something that she had been pondering in her mind over and over again.

"Something though doesn't add up," Roxanne stated, catching Dr. Evo's attention as he gave her a curious look. "This isn't just any ordinary substance, it contains ethernano. The host would have to have the ability to store ethernano within their own body, which means only someone like Gajeel or I would be capable of hosting the substance. However, Kyousuke is the host." Roxanne explained. In explaining it, Roxanne looked back over her life and remembered every interaction or time she had seen Kyousuke. "Never once in my life have I ever seen Kyousuke using magic power, he couldn't possibly be a host for the substance," Roxanne explained. However, despite her calculated and correct analogy, there was a missing piece of the puzzle.

"That kid's a mage alright," Gajeel stated. Dr. Evo turned to him with a further impressed look on his face, only for Roxanne to chime in response.

"What...what do you mean? He can't be a wizard!" Roxanne stated. She couldn't believe what he was saying, but Gajeel had his reasons.

"I could sense it in you and Kyousuke from the start, but not anybody else," Gajeel countered, surprising Roxanne as he went on, "That thing is living inside of him trying to keep him alive."

"But how?! It doesn't make any sense!" Roxanne spat in frustration, trying to piece it all together. No matter what angle she looked at it from it just wasn't adding up; how could he be a magic mage that doesn't have any access to his own power. However, as she thought about it, Dr. Evo eventually gave them a little dose of reality.

"I'll let you two in on a secret about him that nobody knows but me; not even Kyousuke knows this about himself." Dr. Evo explained, catching their attention as they started him down waiting for the answer. "What if I told you the truth about where he came from; how he is just like Gajeel in more ways than one."

"What do you mean?" Roxanne questioned. However, when Dr. Evo said that, it clicked within Gajeel's head the truth about him. You could see the shock in his eyes upon realizing it, clenching his fists as he pried him for answers.

"No way...you can't be serious..." Gajeel uttered in disbelief. Dr. Evo nodded in response to what Gajeel was thinking.

"I am serious; Kyousuke is a Dragon Slayer just like you."

The both of them stood there in bewilderment and awe; Kyousuke was a Dragon Slayer? But how? There's no way. On the outside, Kyousuke seemed like some teen with a screwed up childhood; not even with what Gajeel has seen has there been any sure-fire signs that confirm him being a Dragon Slayer. Roxanne couldn't believe it at first, how could she?

"You can't expect us to believe that!" Roxanne shouted. Dr. Evo seemed unfazed by her comment; he just smirked at her in response.

"Fine then, if you won't take what I'm saying seriously then let me put it into perspective for you," Dr. Evo calmly replied. Looking towards Gajeel, he pointed at his right hand, catching his attention. "Your right hand had been completely healed; nobody would possibly suspect that you got shot by magic shotgun bullets in your hand." Dr. Evo explained, catching both of them off-guard. Gajeel looked at his hand in response as he processed it, thinking over how it got healed in the first place. It was because of Kyousuke. He looked back up at Dr. Evo as he went on. "If it wasn't for Kyousuke that hand would still be ripped apart by the shotgun blast."

"How the hell do you know about that?" Gajeel questioned sternly, responding to his penetrating insight. Considering that there was video footage of the fight that went down at Kyousuke's house, Dr. Evo knew about the entire thing. He further explained the phenomena.

"It's not hard to figure out when you know the fundamentals. Take for instance your Dragon Slaying magic; not only are you an Iron Dragon Slayer but you also can use Shadow Dragon Slaying Magic in-conjunction with it, thanks to having ingested it in the grand magic games." Dr. Evo further explained. Gajeel couldn't be too surprised considering how everyone must know about him being a "fictional character" and all. Being that way meant having your entire life in the show posted all over the internet for anyone to search up; just type his name in and bingo, you have it all. "The ethernano substance I created alters and takes on the form of its host, which means that if it healed all of your wounds the only possible explanation is that it has to be a form of magic that is compatible with your own. In this case, you could exclusively use another wizard's Dragon Slaying magic with your own, not just any magic." He further explained. Putting everything into place. The vast amount of knowledge he had on the matter intimidated both of them, especially Gajeel who isn't easily threatened by anyone. Just by listening to him, they felt like they could get nothing past him. He was a step ahead the both of them mentally, just too smart. As he finished explaining all of that, suddenly things changed.

"WARNING; more unidentified individuals detected. Proceeding with lock-down phase; the facility will shut down and be in a controlled lock-down for the next seven days, starting the count-down until complete lock-down." The robotic voice said, alerting the three of them as things took a turn for the worst.

"What the..." Dr. Evo said in alarm, "Who else could possibly be here?!"

"Don't think you can take off on us just yet!" Roxanne shouted, requipping some kind of special shoes on as Gajeel got on guard himself. The doctor simply turned and looked at them with an annoyed expression as she pressed him for further questioning. "If you're going to tell us he's a Dragon Slayer, the least you could do is tell us why he can't use any magic power!"

"I sealed it off and made sure he didn't have any access to it. Good luck trying to break the seal; even I can't break it." Dr. Evo explained, suddenly teleporting away from the area as they watched it happened. Before they could do anything, Dr. Evo teleported behind them and went straight for the portal that was there the whole time. They could only turn around and watch him get away at the last minute. Roxanne stomp on the ground in disappointment.

"Of course, even at the last minute, he still manages to get away from us," Roxanne commented, standing there in disbelief. Before taking off, they both ran to get Kyousuke, kneeling down in front of him as he was lying on the ground. He was still unconscious, so Gajeel tried waking him up.

"Come on Kyousuke, snap out of it! You need to wake the hell up right now!" Gajeel shouted, shaking Kyousuke to no avail. He was still out cold, and probably would be for quite a while. Seeing him not wake up concerned Roxanne.

"Do you think he's alright?" Roxanne questioned, watching as Gajeel picked him up and carried him on his shoulder.

"He'll be fine." Gajeel reassured, "We need to get out of here before we get locked up in this place." He further added. However, before they started heading out, Roxanne looked at his right arm and noticed the burn mark he had gotten earlier.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Roxanne said in wonder, "you've got this strange burn mark on your arm, it's all squiggly and long." Roxanne questioned in awe and wonder.

"Don't worry about it. Whatever the hell it is, we can deal with it later." Gajeel calmly responded. Roxanne was still curious about it though, she couldn't help but think about what was really up with it.

With that, the two ran to the portal but stopped right before entering it thanks to Roxanne.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"The last time we went through this we got split up. Maybe if we hold onto each other we'll end up in the same place," Roxanne added. Gajeel understood where she was coming from and decided to go along with it.

"Alright fine," Gajeel stated, letting her hold onto him as they went through the portal. There was more to Kyousuke than either of them thought. Now that they have him, they need to get out of this place before they get locked in. They needed to act fast and get moving.


End file.
